Omaha daily bee., 1899-11-17
PROPERTY In LITIGATION
Attorney John Lindt and schlitz Brewing
Company at it Again.
oUARRtLlNe OVER THE PRALoR PROPERTY
Case is Continued in the Court and
the Jury which Had Been I'M
paneIed is Dischnrped-His-
tory of the Cnse.

Lindt and the Schlitz Brewing company over
the Pralor property on Broadway assumed
a new phase yesterday and ia consequence
the trial OF the suit in the superior court,
In which Lindt seeks to recover $4,000 from
Linder & Filter, who occupied the premises
as a saloon, has been continued for the
time being and the jury which had been
impaneled has been discharged.
In the suit at bar, August Uhlein and
the Schlitz Brewing company were made
defendants along with Linder & Filter, but
service was not had upon them and the
case was being tried as against Linder &
Filter alone. Uhlein and the brewing COM
pany, however, filed a petition in the dis
trict court under the occupying claimants
act. The act in question provides that where
person is in possession of real estate
with color OF title, the person owning such
real estate shall make compensation to him
for improvements unless he, the owner of
the property, should decide to purchase
such improvements. II the owner of the
property should refuse to purchase the i'm
provements or pay for them, then the oc-
cupant has a right to purchase the real
estate after 1t has been appraised by order
of the court. In the event Of both refusing
to purchase the improvements or the real
estate, then they hold as tenants in COM
mon.
The Schlitz Brewing company, after 1t
came in possession of the property formerly
owned by Mrs. Annie Pralor, erected a
handsome brick building costing $4,000
Uhlein and the brewing company now ask
the court to require Lindt to either pay the
value of the building or sell the real estate
to them at value to be ascertained by the
court.
When the trial OF the suit in the superior
court was resumed yesterday, Linder &c
Filter. relying on the case commenced in
the district court, pleaded abatement on
the grounds that the ownership of the prem
ises must be determined and the case In
the district court decided first. Judge Ayles-
worth sustained the plea and ordered the
further hearing of the suit continued for
a reasonable time to permit the prosecu-
tion of the case in the district court to
judgment. The costs up to date were Or
dered taxed against the defendant, but a
motion by Lindt that he be allowed $50
attorney fees was overruled.
The property in question has been Ia
litigation between Lindt and the Schitz
Brewing company for several years and re-
Gently the supreme court decreed that the
title to 1t was in Lindt. Subsequently, the
same body overruled the petition of the
brewing company for a rehearing. Lindt
claims that the ruling OF the supreme court
estops the brewing company from claim
ing any interest even in the improvements
and that the company's petition under the
occupying claimants act will not hold wa
ter for minute and is only filed for the
purpose Of delaying the case in the superior
court.
The history of the litigation is more than
ordinarily interesting and shows the pc
culiar working OF the Iowa mulct law. The
property before 1t was improved was owned
by Mrs. Pralor, colored woman, who cou-
Quoted a saloon on West Broadway, where
colored people of both sexes used to con-
gregate. She became indebted to the Schlitz
Brewing company for beer sold her. The
as part payment, took the lot
at 1921 Broadway off her hands. Shortly
after her death Lindt came to the front
with a deed to the property, which he
claimed had been made by Mrs. Pralor
just before her death. He brought suit
to have the deed to the brewing company
set aside on the grounds that part of the
had been liquor, which, under
the laws of the state made the conveyance
null and void. He won the case in the
district court and the brewing company ap-
pealed, but the supreme court upheld the
lower court aud decreed that the title to
the property was in Lindt. The brewing
after securing the lot from Mrs
Pralor, erected a three story brick build
ing the first floor of which was occupied
by Linder G. Filter as a saloon. The build
is at present vacant, the astute attorney
having evicted the occupants by force as
soon as the decree of the supreme court was
handed down.