Court Opinion

ID: 9647831
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 13:52:12.877249+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:54.073532
License: Public Domain

CADENA, Justice
(dissenting).
I would affirm the judgment below.
There are, of course, obvious differences between the liabilities and rights of parties to a hunting “lease” and the relations between a landlord and tenant under an ordinary lease. But assuming, despite these differences, that the same rules are applicable in case of a total breach by the “lessor,” the trial judge committed no error.
Here, for a single payment of $7,500.00, paid in advance, appellee acquired the right to hunt on the Canelo Ranch for a period of one year. Since it is undisputed that appellant wrongfully interfered with the *718right of appellee to enjoy the benefits of the contract, the proper measure of recovery should be the “rental” paid in advance for the period following the date of the “eviction.”
In the true landlord-tenant relationship, the rule seems to be that a tenant who has paid rent in advance for a period extending beyond the time of eviction is entitled to recover the proportionate share of the advance payment made by him. Everson v. Albert, 261 Mich. 182, 246 N.W. 88 (1933); 3 Thompson, Real Property, § 1135, p. 520 (1959 Replacement); 52 C.J.S. Landlord and Tenant § 461, p. 194; 32 Am.Jur., Landlord and Tenant, § 265, p. 250. While there appear to be no Texas cases considering the right of an evicted tenant to recover rentals paid in advance, in Nolan v. Stauffacher, 3 Will.Civ.Cas. Ct.App. § 372 (1888), it was held that a landlord who evicted the tenant could not recover for rental which the tenant had agreed to pay in advance, although the eviction occurred after the advance rental was payable.