Opinion ID: 1800959
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Rent Controversy

Text: After the assignment controversy arose, Dodier and the merged corporation (hereinafter sometimes referred to as the Cardinals) entered into a stipulation dated March 30, 1949, providing that until the termination of litigation to resolve the assignment controversy, the merged corporation, or Cardinals, should continue to exercise and enjoy all of the rights and privileges granted the original lessee, and in the same manner and upon the same terms and conditions. American League Baseball Company of St. Louis (hereinafter called the Browns) was also a tenant of the park under a lease from Dodier, by the terms of which the Browns were required to maintain the premises, with a provision that Dodier should reimburse them for one-half of such cost and expenses or cause the same to be done. One of the obligations of the Cardinals under § 6 of the lease in question was that of reimbursing Dodier (upon monthly statements to be rendered by it) for one-half of the cost and expenses of maintenance, which Dodier had, in turn, agreed to pay or cause to be paid to the Browns. In April, 1949, Dodier presented such a statement to the Cardinals showing the sum of $12,744.30 as the balance due by them on account of such maintenance cost and expenses. The Cardinals claimed they were entitled to a credit of $4767.68 because of the use at certain Negro exhibition games of the lighting system which was jointly owned by the Cardinals and the Browns. Dodier refused to recognize the validity of the claimed credit, and on May 9, 1949, served on defendant a notice of forfeiture. The Cardinals had 30 days in which to cure any such default, and so on May 10 they tendered to Dodier and the Browns the full amount due according to the aforesaid statement, except the item of $4767.68. Thereafter, on June 8, 1949, the Cardinals filed their counterclaim and paid the disputed sum of $4767.68 into the registry of the court under the following allegations: 12. Defendant further states, however, that in view of the claim of forfeiture and so as to avoid irreparable damage to defendant, defendant hereby tenders into court the balance of $4,767.68 here in controversy so that if the court should determine that all or any part thereof is due and owing to plaintiff, or to said American League Baseball Company of St. Louis, the amount thereof may be paid to said American League Baseball Company of St. Louis. The counterclaim prayed that the plaintiff be enjoined from asserting any forfeiture of the lease; that title be quieted in the merged corporation as lessee under the lease, and for other relief. The decree ordered and adjudged that the clerk pay over to the plaintiff the disputed sum of $4767.68 theretofore deposited in the registry of the court, but that such payment shall be without prejudice in any way to the right of defendant St. Louis National Baseball Club, Inc., to assert in any other litigation it may determine to bring, any claims not specifically adjudicated herein, which it may have against either the plaintiff or the cross-defendant American League Baseball Company of St. Louis on account of the profits of the exhibition games played on said premises during 1948 including the profits from the `concession business' in connection with the said exhibition games, and including the division of profits from any exhibition games which were played after the 1948 season, or may be hereafter played, and the `concession business' in connection therewith, or any claims it may have for the reasonable value of said St. Louis National Baseball Club, Inc.'s, interest in the lights and lighting system, turnstiles, cushions and whatever other equipment of any kind is used in connection with the operation of Sportsman's Park, and which may have been furnished or is now owned by said St. Louis National Baseball Club, Inc., in conjunction with American League Baseball Company of St. Louis. The decree further ordered and adjudged the declaration of forfeiture in question to be void and of no effect; enjoined plaintiff from asserting any forfeiture of the lease on account of said declaration, or otherwise interfering with defendant's possession under said lease; adjudged the same to be in full force and effect, and defendant to be entitled to all of the rights of lessee thereunder. Plaintiff and the cross-defendant on the counterclaim did not file a motion for new trial, but did file a motion to amend the judgment and opinion in the following respects and for the reasons set out: 1. To render judgment in favor of the plaintiff and cross-defendant on the counterclaim because the findings thereon compel such judgment under the law. 2. To delete from the finding that plaintiff was on June 8, 1949, and still is, entitled to the disputed $4767.68, the declaration that this finding is without prejudice to the right of defendant to bring another action to relitigate this question, because under the findings and the law this declaration is illegal and violative of the Code of Civil Procedure, Sections 10 and 14 of Article I of the Constitution of Missouri, and Amendment XIV of the Constitution of the United States. 3. To delete from the judgment and opinion (a) the order that the notice or declaration of forfeiture dated May 9, 1949, is void, (b) the injunction against asserting a forfeiture under such notice, and (c) the declaration that the lease is in full force and effect and defendant entitled to the rights of the lessee thereunder, because under the findings and the law these orders, injunctions and declarations are illegal and violative of the Code of Civil Procedure, and Sections 10 and 14 of Article I of the Constitution of Missouri, and Article I, Section 10, Clause 1, and Amendment XIV of the Constitution of the United States. It is obvious that appellants' motion to amend accepts the findings of the court as correct, and seeks amendment of the decree solely on the basis that such findings compel it. No question arises as to the jurisdiction of the court over the subject matter, nor as to the sufficiency of the counterclaim to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, and so because not presented to or expressly decided by the trial court, as required by § 140(a) of the Civil Code, Laws 1943, p. 353, § 512.160 (1), R.S.Mo.1949, we do not consider such assignments appearing in appellants' brief as that the respondent could have paid under protest the account demanded within the grace period and sued for recovery for the payment on the ground of duress, and so must suffer the consequences of its refusal to fulfill its contract; and that respondent's payment into court was for its own use and benefit, was conditioned upon a successful defense of the counterclaim, and did not constitute a tender, etc. With those matters eliminated, the whole burden of plaintiff's complaint is that the court having found that plaintiff was entitled to the payment withheld, the counterclaim should have been dismissed. But this contention disregards the conditional nature of such award, and fails to take into account the controlling effect of still another finding made in that same connection, all of which appears in § 8 of the decree, as follows: The Court finds that under the pleadings and the proof it is not able to adjudicate what part of said sum of $4,767.68 defendant St. Louis National Baseball Club, Inc., is entitled to receive, and that said question may without prejudice to the rights of said St. Louis National Baseball Club, Inc., be adjudicated in a new suit or by amendment of the pleadings in this cause and further proof on the questions involved. But the Court further finds that plaintiff has no right to declare a forfeiture on account of the facts and circumstances presented on the counterclaim and that said defendant St. Louis National Baseball Club, Inc., has demonstrated its good faith in asserting its claims as hereinabove set forth by paying the disputed sum into the registry of this Court and by making such payment within the time prescribed in the notice of forfeiture and therefore plaintiff is not entitled to declare any forfeiture of said lease on account of the facts and circumstances hereinabove set forth. And the Court further finds that defendant St. Louis National Baseball Club, Inc., having indicated to the Court its intention not to amend its pleadings herein or to offer further proof herein, but that it intends to further litigate the questions involved in the counterclaim in a separate proceeding, and the Court finds that plaintiff is entitled to receive the said sum of $4,767.68 heretofore paid into the registry of this Court, but without prejudice to the right of said St. Louis National Baseball Club, Inc., to litigate such questions in another proceeding. Under the form of review, as cast by the motion to modify, the express finding of the court that, under the pleadings and the proof, it was unable to adjudicate what part of the disputed sum of $4767.68 the defendant was entitled to receive, and that Dodier had no right to declare the forfeiture, is binding. This necessarily disposes of the same objection as affecting the without prejudice provisions of the decree awarding the disputed fund to Dodier, as well as to the granting of the injunction, and other features of the relief granted. The judgment is affirmed. All coucur.