Source: https://casetext.com/case/graffell-v-honeysuckle
Timestamp: 2019-05-21 17:16:19
Document Index: 700594870

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 938', '§ 938', '§ 938', '§ 40', '§ 938', '§ 938', '§ 647', '§ 938']

Graffell v. Honeysuckle, 30 Wn. 2d 390 | Casetext
Graffell v. Honeysuckle
30 Wn. 2d 390 (Wash. 1948)
Graffellv.Honeysuckle
The Supreme Court of Washington. Department TwoApr 1, 1948
30 Wn. 2d 390•191 P.2d 858•30 Wash. 2d 390•
No. 30352.
LANDLORD AND TENANT — LANDLORD'S TITLE AND REVERSION — INJURIES TO REVERSION — STATUTORY PROVISIONS — TREBLE DAMAGES FOR WASTE. By the 1943 amendment to Rem. Rev. Stat., § 938, relating to actions by a landlord for damages for waste committed on real property by a tenant, the then existing law was changed by making the recovery of treble damages mandatory instead of permissive and by making the condition prerequisite to recovery simply "if the plaintiff prevails," and not the willfulness or wantonness of the act committed.
WASTE — NATURE AND ELEMENTS. Waste is an unreasonable or improper use or omission of duty touching real estate by one rightfully in possession which results in its substantial injury.
SAME — NATURE AND ELEMENTS — VOLUNTARY AND PERMISSIVE WASTE. Voluntary or commissive waste consists of the commission of some deliberate destructive act, while permissive waste implies omission to do that which will prevent injury; and the acts of a tenant in tearing up and dismantling all the hardwood from a dance hall and removing electrical switches and a toilet bowl, constitute voluntary waste.
STATUTES — CONSTRUCTION — INTENT OF LEGISLATURE. The fundamental object of all judicial construction of a statute is to ascertain, if possible, and give effect to, the intention of the lawmakers in enacting it.
SAME — CONTEXT AND SUBJECT MATTER. In arriving at the intent of the legislature, the first resort of the courts is to the context and subject matter of the legislation.
SAME — CONSTRUCTION WITH REFERENCE TO STATUTES PREVIOUSLY CONSTRUED. In enacting legislation upon a particular subject, the lawmaking body is presumed to be familiar not only with its own prior legislation relating to that subject, but also with the court decisions construing it.
SAME — CONSTRUCTION — REFERENCE TO OTHER STATUTES — REPEALED OR SUPERSEDED ACTS. In construing statutes which re-enact, with certain changes, or repeal other statutes, or which contain revisions or codifications of earlier laws, resort to repealed and superseded statutes may be had and is of great importance in ascertaining the legislative intent.
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW — DISTRIBUTION OF GOVERNMENTAL POWERS — JUDICIAL POWERS AND FUNCTIONS — ENCROACHMENT ON LEGISLATURE — INQUIRY INTO MOTIVE OR WISDOM OF LEGISLATION. It is not within the province of the courts to consider and determine whether the action of the legislature in making a change in a statute was a wise or a retrogressive step in the law; but the court's function is to ascertain the intention of the legislature in enacting the new law and then to give it effect.
LANDLORD AND TENANT — REVERSION — RIGHTS OF LANDLORD — INJURIES TO REVERSION — STATUTORY PROVISIONS — TREBLE DAMAGES FOR WASTE. By the 1943 amendment to Rem. Rev. Stat., § 938, relating to actions by a landlord for waste committed on real property by a tenant, the legislature intended to, and did, provide that where a tenant of real property commits waste thereon, the person injured may maintain an action for damages, and if the injured party prevails, the judgment shall be for treble damages or for fifty dollars, whichever is greater.
See 110 A.L.R. 480; 32 Am. Jur. 665.
Maslan Maslan and Albert Hanan, for appellants.
Griffin Griffin, for respondents.
Appellants, Newton J. Graffell and Edward D. Pitter, co-partners doing business under the name of Progressive Investment Co., are the owners of certain improved real estate located at, and described as, 2203 east Madison street, Seattle. At the time with which we are here concerned, respondent M.C. Honeysuckle, to whom we shall hereinafter refer as though he were the sole respondent, was appellants' tenant, having possession of the property under a written lease dated December 1, 1942, but executed March 1, 1943, and expiring by its terms on November 30, 1944. Respondent operated a dance hall in the building located on the premises. We quote directly two paragraphs of the court's findings, on the basis of which the court entered its judgment:
"VIII. That, on or about the 26th day of November, 1944, the defendants [respondents] M.C. HONEYSUCKLE AND WIFE, vacated the said property and, about the said time, wrongfully, personally and through their agents, damaged the said property by removing parts of the said building and destroying other parts of same, to the reasonable loss and damage to plaintiffs [appellants] in the sum of $756.00, itemized as follows:
Damage to dance floor necessitating repairs ......................... $500.00, Damage to band stand, necessitating reconstruction .................. 100.00, Replacing of electrical wiring .... 50.00, Damage to toilet .................. 60.00, Loss of rental time ............... 100.00, $756.00. __________________ [The above figures are exactly as they appear in the finding.]
Prior to the execution of the lease referred to above, the building on the premises, which had a sloping concrete floor, had been used as a motion picture theater. Respondent took the premises under a lease from appellants with the view of converting the building into a dance hall. This was accomplished by first placing upon the concrete floor a series of posts or pillars, as part of a general bridge construction comprised in part of heavy timbers, and super-imposing thereon, first, a preliminary floor, and upon this a dance floor of maple or hardwood. A band platform was also built and certain electrical equipment installed. The work of alteration was done under the general supervision of city authorities and by them later approved. Upon completion of the work, respondent used the building as a dance hall until the end of his term, November 30, 1944. In September of that year, he was advised by appellants that the lease would not be renewed. Following this, certain correspondence passed, and certain conferences were held, between the parties with reference to respondent's request for an extension of the lease and his offer to sell to appellants the "equipment" in the building at the termination of the lease. Nothing, however, came of these proposals.
"If a guardian, tenant in severally, or in common, for life or for years, of real property, commit waste thereon, any person injured thereby may maintain an action at law for damages therefor against such guardian or tenant; in which action there may be judgment for treble damages, forfeiture of the estate of the party committing or permitting the waste, and of eviction from the property. But judgment of forfeiture and eviction shall only be given in favor of the person entitled to the reversion against the tenant in possession, when the injury to the estate in reversion is determined in the action, to be equal to the value of the tenant's estate or unexpired term, or to have been done or suffered in malice." (Italics ours.)
The origin of that statute and the conditions under which it would permit recovery in treble damages were considered and explained in DeLano v. Tennent, 138 Wn. 39, 244 P. 273, 45 A.L.R. 766. In that case, the owner of real property on which there were certain buildings leased the property to a tenant for a period of five years for use as a foundry. The lessee agreed, inter alia, not to commit or suffer waste, and to quit and surrender the premises at the end of the term in as good order and condition as they then were, or might "be put into." The lessee subsequently assigned the lease to another party. During the time the lessee or its assignee was in possession of the property, a number of structures were erected on the premises, useful in the business of conducting a foundry. These consisted, in part, of a core oven, an electrical transformer, a jib crane, and a hoist. There were also erected structures in the form of additions to the main buildings, and one new building. About a year prior to the expiration of the term of the lease, the assignee thereof moved its business to another site and quit entirely its use of the leased premises, although it continued regularly to pay the monthly rental. On moving from the premises, the assignee tore down and carried away all of the new structures which had been erected on the property during the time the lessee or assignee was in possession; it also tore down the core oven, destroyed the transformer, taking away all that was valuable of the materials of which it was composed, removed the crane and hoist, weakened the supports of the main building, and left the premises covered with debris.
"The second contention [with reference to treble damages] is founded on § 938 of the code (Rem. Comp. Stat.). This section provides that, if a tenant in severally or in common of real property for life or for years commits waste thereon, any person injured thereby may maintain an action at law for damages therefor against such tenant, and further provides that in such action `there may be judgment for treble damages.' But we cannot conclude that it is applicable to the facts here shown. The section in its present form first appears in the territorial Laws of 1869, p. 143, and has received no legislative modification since that time. Its language, as will be observed from the part we have quoted, is permissive rather than mandatory, and a reading of the entire act of which it forms a part convinces us that it was the legislative intent to provide for the punishment of wilful and wanton acts resulting in waste, rather than to make treble damages the ordinary measure in instances where the waste was the result of a mistaken view of rights entertained in good faith. This court early in its history announced the doctrine that the rule allowing recovery of exemplary and punitive damages was unsound in principle, and held that such damages were not recoverable in this jurisdiction, unless expressly so provided by statute. See the cases collected in Remington's Washington Digest, Title, Damages, §§ 40, 42. In this instance, as we have shown, the statute permits recovery in treble damages only where the waste is wilful and wanton, and the record does not show that the waste here committed was of that sort."
"If a guardian, tenant in severalty or in common, for life or for years, or by sufferance, or at will, or a sub-tenant, of real property commit waste thereon, any person injured thereby may maintain an action at law for damages therefor against such guardian or tenant or sub-tenant; in which action, if the plaintiff prevails, there shall be judgment for treble damages, or for fifty dollars ($50), whichever is greater, and the court, in addition may decree forfeiture of the estate of the party committing or permitting the waste, and of eviction from the property. The judgment, in any event, shall include as part of the costs of the prevailing party, a reasonable attorney's fee to be fixed by the court. But judgment of forfeiture and eviction shall only be given in favor of the person entitled to the reversion against the tenant in possession, when the injury to the estate in reversion is determined in the action to be equal to the value of the tenant's estate or unexpired term, or to have been done or suffered in malice." (Italics ours.)
The words and phrases which have been italicized above are additions to the earlier act (Rem. Rev. Stat., § 938) except that the verbal phrase "there may be judgment" in the earlier act was changed to "there shall be judgment" in the 1943 act.
With reference to the amendatory statute, several other things may be noted: (1) The change in the wording of the statute was made as an amendment to Rem. Rev. Stat., § 938, alone, and not as a general revision of a comprehensive legislative act containing that section and several others as well; (2) the statute as it now reads makes the rendition of judgment for treble damages mandatory upon the court, while the granting of a decree of forfeiture and eviction is merely permissive, thus recognizing and preserving the distinction between the words "shall" and "may"; (3) it provides that "malice" shall be indispensable to a decree of forfeiture and eviction, but not to a judgment for treble damages; and (4) it provides for treble damages in case of waste committed, and for forfeiture and eviction in case of waste either committed or suffered. [2] "Waste," as understood in the law of real property and as variously defined by this court, is an unreasonable or improper use, abuse, mismanagement, or omission of duty touching real estate by one rightfully in possession which results in its substantial injury. It is the violation of an obligation to treat the premises in such manner that no harm be done to them, and that the estate may revert to those having an underlying interest undeteriorated by any willful or negligent act. Moore v. Twin City Ice Cold Storage Co., 92 Wn. 608, 159 P. 779, Ann. Cas. 1918D, 540. For other definitions, see 44 Words and Phrases (Perm. ed.) 703 et seq. [3] Waste may be either voluntary or permissive. Voluntary waste, sometimes spoken of as commissive waste, consists of the commission of some deliberate or voluntary destructive act, such as pulling down a house, or removing things fixed to and constituting a material part of the freehold. Permissive waste implies negligence or omission to do that which will prevent injury, as, for instance, to suffer a house to go to decay for want of repair or to deteriorate from neglect. 3 Bouvier's Law Dictionary (Rawle's 3d ed.) 3433; 32 Words and Phrases (Perm ed.) 161; 44 Words and Phrases (Perm. ed.) 438.
This brings us directly to the question whether a judgment for treble damages for waste resulting from an act voluntarily and intentionally, though not maliciously, done is made mandatory by the 1943 statute, quoted above. This requires a judicial construction of the statute.
[4] The fundamental object or purpose of all judicial construction or interpretation is to ascertain, if possible, and to give effect to, the intention of the lawmakers in enacting the particular statute. Layton v. Home Indemnity Co., 9 Wn.2d 25, 113 P.2d 538; Lynch v. Department of Labor Industries, 19 Wn.2d 802, 145 P.2d 265.
[5] It has frequently been declared that, in the process of arriving at the intent of the legislative body, the first resort of the courts is to the context and subject matter of the legislation, because the intention of the lawmaker is to be deduced, if possible, from what it said. Lynch v. Department of Labor Industries, supra, and cases therein cited.
[6] In enacting legislation upon a particular subject, the lawmaking body is presumed to be familiar not only with its own prior legislation relating to that subject, but also with the court decisions construing such former legislation. In re Levy, 23 Wn.2d 607, 161 P.2d 651, 162 A.L.R. 805. This rule was applied in the case of Sandahl v. Department of Labor Industries, 170 Wn. 380, 16 P.2d 623, wherein this court said:
[7] In construing statutes which re-enact, with certain changes, or repeal other statutes, or which contain revisions or codification of earlier laws, resort to repealed and superseded statutes may be had, and is of great importance in ascertaining the intention of the legislature, for, where a material change is made in the wording of a statute, a change in legislative purpose must be presumed. In re Phillips' Estate, 193 Wn. 194, 74 P.2d 1015, and cases therein cited; Great Northern R. Co. v. Cohn, 3 Wn.2d 672, 101 P.2d 985; Longview Co. v. Lynn, 6 Wn.2d 507, 108 P.2d 365.
This rule was applied in In re Eichler's Estate, 102 Wn. 497, 173 P. 435, where the court was called upon to construe a statute which substituted a discretionary power in the probate court to award costs in will contests in place of the arbitrary rule of a former statute which required that costs and expenses be paid by the unsuccessful contestant. The court said:
"In making material changes in the language of a statute, the legislature cannot be assumed to have regarded such changes as without significance, but must be assumed to have had a reasonable motive. Where a statute is amended, it will not be presumed that the difference between the two statutes was due to oversight or inadvertence on the part of the legislature. To the contrary, the presumption is that every amendment of a statute is made to effect some purpose, and effect must be given the amended law in a manner consistent with the amendment. The general rule is that a change in phraseology indicates persuasively, and raises a presumption, that a departure from the old law was intended, and amendments are accordingly generally construed to effect a change, particularly where the wording of the statute is radically different."
See, also, 59 C.J. 1097, Statutes, § 647.
Applying these rules to the instant case and to the amendatory statute here involved, we see no escape from the conclusion that, by adopting the amendment, the legislature deliberately intended to make a vital change in the matter of allowance of treble damages for waste committed by a guardian, a tenant, or a subtenant. Having before it the old statute, which was couched in permissive language with reference to treble damages, and being cognizant of the construction which this court had placed upon that statute, thereby emphasizing its permissive character, the legislature deliberately changed the law by using the mandatory words "shall be" in place of the permissive words "may be" with respect to judgment for treble damages. That intention is further manifested, in our opinion, by the provision allowing fifty dollars wherever the damages trebled would amount to less than that sum.
[9] In our opinion, the legislature, in enacting the amendatory act of 1943 (Rem. Supp. 1943, § 938), intended to provide, and did provide, that where a guardian, tenant, or subtenant of real property commits waste thereon, that is, does some voluntary destructive act, the person injured thereby may maintain an action for damages against the offending party; and if the injured party prevails in such action the judgment shall be for treble damages, or for fifty dollars, whichever is the greater amount.
MALLERY, C.J., BEALS, JEFFERS, and SCHWELLENBACH, JJ., concur.