Opinion ID: 1864539
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: facts

Text: Under a month-to-month oral lease entered in October of 1984, Henry Mason began renting one-half of Schumachers' duplex for $395 per month. Mason used the duplex as the residence for himself; his daughter, Carolyn Brown; and her two children. The premises actually consisted of two separate living quarters; Mason lived in the upstairs apartment, while his daughter lived in the basement apartment. Mason paid his monthly rent through April 1986. Some months before May 1986, Mason found another rental residence which was about the same size as Schumachers' duplex at a rent substantially less. Mason and his daughter decided to move to this recently found residence. As the result of Mason's delinquent payment for natural gas, Metropolitan Utilities District (MUD) discontinued gas service for Mason at the duplex on April 1, 1986. On April 15, Carolyn Brown completed a change-of-address card for postal service and designated May 4, 1986, as the effective date for the change in postal service and discontinuance of mail at the duplex, but the card was not received by Mason's postal carrier until mid-May. On April 24, in view of the delinquent water bill for the duplex, MUD discontinued water service to the Mason residence. Mason and his daughter used water from a neighbor's house and continued to live in the duplex despite the absence of gas and water service for their dwelling. Before moving from the duplex, Carolyn Brown attempted to contact the Schumachers [f]our or five times by telephone to tell them of the planned move, but her efforts were unsuccessful. On May 7, Mason borrowed a truck and, with the help of two friends, began moving his and his daughter's possessions out of the Schumacher duplex. Mason had moved a majority of the stuff from upstairs, but had not begun removing items from the basement, when rain suspended Mason's moving from the duplex. Consequently, although he had moved a good deal of his belongings, Mason left several items inside the duplex, including two new radial tires; four spare tires with rims; tools in a toolbox; two mattresses and box springs; three washing machines; a dryer; a stove; a refrigerator; two movie projectors; a dinette set; three vacuum cleaners; various pots, pans, and dishes; a crockpot; four fishing rods with reels; two pairs of boots; four leather jackets; and assorted items of clothing, and left a 1969 Chevrolet pickup truck on the premises. Many of those articles were purchased by Mason at secondhand stores. Mason never lived in the duplex after May 7. On May 9, Schumachers went to their duplex with the intention of collecting the May rent from Mason. On approaching the residence, Alberta Schumacher noticed that there were no curtains in the duplex's windows and mentioned to her husband, Bob, the dog is gone, referring to Mason's little dog, which had always been playing in the front yard when Schumachers visited the duplex. Using his own set of keys, Robert Schumacher tried to enter the duplex, but found that his keys did not work in the locks. Robert Schumacher then removed a glass pane in the front door and reached inside to open the door for entry into the duplex. Before entering the duplex, Schumachers had unsuccessfully attempted to phone Mason at his place of employment. Schumachers had then called MUD and learned that the water service for the duplex was terminated on April 24. On entering the duplex, Schumachers discovered that the place was in a state of disarray. While Robert Schumacher referred to Mason's property in the house as trash, Schumachers, nevertheless, left a note in the duplex, directing Mason and his daughter to pick up their items by May 12th, or we'd take them [the items] to the dump. Notwithstanding the time limit indicated in Schumachers' note, disposal of Mason's property began on May 9, when Robert Schumacher's brothers brought a pickup truck to the duplex and hauled away a gas range and a washing machine which had been in the basement of Mason's residence. Schumachers couldn't reach Mason between May 9 and May 12, although their unsuccessful communicative efforts are not detailed in the record. On May 12, Schumachers returned to the duplex and saw that Mason's belongings were still in the duplex. Enlisting the aid of their daughter and two of Robert Schumacher's brothers, Schumachers removed all the remaining Mason belongings and took those items to the Douglas County landfill. Schumachers also called the Omaha police automobile impoundment division and requested that police tow away Mason's pickup, which was subsequently sold at public auction for $120. The city of Omaha received the proceeds from the sale of Mason's pickup. Also on May 12, 1986, Carolyn Brown finally established contact with Alberta Schumacher. When Brown told Mrs. Schumacher that she and Mason were going to remove the remainder of their personal property from the duplex, Mrs. Schumacher informed Brown that it was too late because all the belongings had been taken to the dump. Brown then went to the duplex to verify what Mrs. Schumacher had said and was unable to enter the premises because the doorknob had been removed. According to Robert Schumacher, however, the duplex was accessible on May 12 despite the absence of doorknobs, and he changed the duplex's locks on May 14. During the week after removal of Mason's belongings, Schumachers attempted to clean and repair the duplex for reletting to another tenant. A number of window screens were replaced, the bathrooms were cleaned, holes in the walls were patched, a kitchen cabinet was fixed, and the garage door was repaired. By May 15, 1986, Mason had retained a lawyer, who wrote Schumachers and demanded return of Mason's security deposit, which the lawyer's letter indicated was $395. While Robert Schumacher knew about legal actions to recover possession of the duplex, he did not seek any legal remedy because he believed Mason had abandoned the duplex. Schumachers leased the duplex to a new tenant sometime at the end of May.