104 Mich. 72 | Mich. | 1895
On April 1, 1890, defendant Cooper executed a lease to plaintiff of 14 acres of land near the city of Detroit, for farming purposes, for five years, at a rental of $110 per annum, payable, $55 October 1, 1890, and $55 April 1, 1891, and a like sum every six months thereafter during the continuance of the lease. Plaintiff claims an eviction on April 5, 1893, and defendant Cooper insists that plaintiff was in arrears for the rent due October 1, 1892, and that in December, 1892, he surrendered the premises; that he (Cooper) afterwards sold the land, and, after he had sold it, plaintiff came and tendered the balance of rent due, when he refused to permit a re-entry. The jury found for plaintiff.
Henry Pipper was called by defendants to show a conversation had with plaintiff in which the latter had admitted a surrender of the premises to Cooper. On cross-examination, plaintiff’s counsel was permitted to show that the witness had held a lease from Cooper of other lands embraced in the sale made by the latter, and that Cooper had allowed him $240 by reason of his agreement to vacate the premises sold. This was clearly erroneous. It did not tend to show that plaintiff had not surrendered the lands rented by him before the sale was made, nor was what Cooper paid in order to effect a sale of his lands competent to show what the land was worth to Pipper, or what damages plaintiff had suffered.
We think the court erred in the instruction given as to
“Where a lessor fails to give possession of the leased premises, the measure of damages is the difference between the actual rental value and the rent reserved. The ruléis the same, whether the leased property is a farm, a dwelling-house or hotel, or business premises. If, however, the premises were necessary to the plaintiff for carrying on an. established business, * * * the plaintiff might, on principles elsewhere discussed, recover further damages. The measure of damages* [in such case] would be the difference between the rent and the value for the plaintiff’s business, which would involve an allowance of profits. If the business were a new one, since there could be no basis, on which to estimate profits, the plaintiff must be content to recover according to the general rule.”
Plaintiff’s testimony as to the probable yield of his-strawberry patch and its probable market value, that he-intended to crop the land with certain crops, and as to what, in his opinion, the value of the crops would be, as. well as the testimony of others as to what the land planted to garden vegetables would yield,' was incompetent, because-too speculative. He is practically seeking to recover damages for the interruption to his business. It is what gain he can show with reasonable certainty that he would have-made that he is entitled to recover for. The profits actually realized by him in the preceding years may be shown as tending to show the value to him of the premises; otherwise he must be limited in his recovery to the differ
The judgment is reversed, and a new trial granted.
The court charged that the plaintiff, if entitled to a verdict, should recover the difference between the amount that he would have made by farming the 14 acres and the amount that he actually did make by working other land.