Putnam patriot., 1918-05-03
DECISION FOR
UNION BLOCK CO.
Justice Jury Finds for Plaintiff
In Summary Process
Proceedings.
Case VIII Be Taken to the Superior
Court


After several sessions of Justice
court at which George Potvin. Justice
of the peace. has presided where mo-
tions and demurrers were disposed
of. the ease= Of the Union Block Com
pany y. Christopher FERRIS. sum
mary process proceeding, was heard
by justice jury in the superior
court room. Thursday morning
The case is one in which the Block
Company seeks to regain possession
of the room in Union block occupied
by the defendant as pool room. The
Block Company claims that a i've
year lease held by the defendant is
void because defendant was convicted
of permitting gambling in the premis-
es.
Many of the questions raised by the
pleadings were disposed of by demur-
rer. The question of fact which the
jury was called upon to decide Thurs
day morning was whether or not in
accepting a check for months rent,
which the plaintiff believed to be for
the month of March while the defend
ant believed it to be for the month of
A "a Of at
ed as for March or April If the jury
found it was accepted for April then
Terzis would have had a right to at
least remain for that month and the
suit would have been prematurely
brought.
Justice Potvin presided at the ses-
sion and the jury was made up as fol
lows: George F. Brousseau, Horatio
A Brown. Hector DIVERT, Alfred
Bonneville, Lewis Law and C. NJ. FL
lott
A. A Houghton, agent of the Union
Block Company, was the only witness
for the plaintiff He testified that the
last receipt he made was to March 81,
1918. That he handed this receipt to
Terzis and that Terzis handed him a
check That as he started to leave
Terzis said that the check was for
the month of April, and that he re-
piled that he thought Terzis was mis-
taken and that if he found that he.
the witness, was mistaken, he would
return it. He found that Terzis was
right and he returned the check %
him the same afternoon. He believed
when he took the check it was for the
month of March and told Terzis that
he did not want rent for A ,ril. lie
also said he called Terzis' attention
to the receipt.
On cross examination he admitted
that he went eff with the check after
ferris told him it was for the April
rent That when he brought it back
he dropped it on Tefzis' desk
The defendant took the stand and
said that about II o'clock April End
he called Mr. Houghton into hrs store
and said Here's the rent for
month. Houghton came in and put
a receipt on his desk while witness
was at the telephone Houghton went
out and came back again. he came
back again and said, IF you say this
rent is for April you make mistake,
it is for March" Witness replied that
he always paid in advance. Houghton
said, you pay me for last month" |
said, mo, | pay you for this month"
Houghton kept the check and came
back about $50 and told witness he
was right and threw the check on the
cigar case. Witness told him to keep
the check, but he said, Il refuse to
take it" Nick Poulus corroberated
the defendant.
Attorney Carpenter for the plaintiff
argued that the receipt itself to
March 31st was the best evidence of
what Mr.. Houghton intended, and
that he did not intend to take the
check except as for rent for March
Lawyer Torrey argued that Terzis
said the rent was for April and that if
Houghton accepted it, even though he
only kept il for few hours. The legal
effect was payment as rendered ami
that it closed the deal and that the
April rent was paid and that there
fore the case should be thrown out of
court.
After Justice Potyin charged the
jury they retired and brought in a
verdict for the plaintiff
Defendant will file writ Of error
to the Superior court and there IS
talk of the case possibly reaching the
Supreme Court of Errors.
The Block Company wants the room
occupied by Terzis for part of the
new post office quarters 1t contends
that the lease being void that Terzis
Is a tenant at suffrance and can be
made to quit with the proper ten days
notice.
Terzis claims that the acceptance
of rent since his conviction Of allow
ing gambling on the premises last No
vember is a waiver of the breach.