Court Opinion

ID: 9550684
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:40:19.298277+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:22:09.168316
License: Public Domain

KEETON, Justice
(dissenting in part).
I concur in the reversal of the judgment entered and that judgment should be for the plaintiff. I am further of the opinion that the plaintiff is entitled to treble damages. The lessee defaulted in payment of rent and refused to surrender possession or follow the proceedings provided by statute for reinstating the lease, which makes judgment for treble rent mandatory. Sec. 6-316 I.C. provides for treble rent “if the alleged unlawful detainer be after default in the payment of rent, and the judgment *178shall be rendered against the defendant guilty of the * * * unlawful detainer, for three times the amount of the damages thus assessed, and of the rent found due.”
By other provisions in the section, the lessee may within five days pay the rent and relieve himself of the treble rent so determined. In the instant case, the lessee did not elect to pay the rent. The statute, Sec. 6-316 I.C., does not use the word “willful” and 32 Am.Jur. 788, par. 934, quoting authorities states the rule as follows : “The view has been taken that under a statute imposing multiple damages on a tenant who wrongfully holds over, which does not employ the word “wilful”, the landlord may recover even though ' it is found that the tenant held over because he believed, in good faith, that he had a lawful right to do so.” See also Lane v. Ruhl, 103 Mich. 38, 61 N.W. 347.
In the instant case, the lessee did not pay the rent pursuant to the notice served, nor did he surrender possession of the property, nor is it shown that he intended to comply with the lease terms then or thereafter. The rights of the lessor and lessee under such circumstances are covered by statute.
Cases based on statutes using the word “willful” are not authority in the construction of the Idaho, Statute. I think the lessor is entitled to treble rent. Otherwise, I concur in the majority opinion.