Mendoza v. Castiglioni

TYLER, P. J.

Action in unlawful detainer for rent and possession of property held in part by oral agreement and in part under a written lease. The complaint alleges that on February 8, 1935, notices to pay or vacate were served upon defendants. The land described in the notices is that certain real property situate in the county of Marin, state of California, and known as “Castiglioni Ranch”, being a portion of “Mendoza Ranch”. The complaint further alleges that the parcels of land referred to in the notices jointly comprise and are the whole of a one hundred-acre tract therein referred to

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and which is occupied by defendants and enclosed by a fence; that defendants occupied and used said premises pursuant to agreements made with plaintiffs for the use thereof; that by said agreements defendants promised to pay to plaintiffs the sum of $375 upon the 15th day of April, 1934, and a like amount upon the 15th day of November, 1934, as and for semiannual rent of the premises described in ‘ Exhibit A ’ ’ attached to the complaint, and by said agreements defendants further agreed to pay to plaintiffs the sum of $125 upon the 15th day of April, 1934, for the premises described in “Exhibit B” likewise attached to the complaint. The smaller tract of land was held under an oral agreement and was described in ‘ ‘ Exhibit B” as being that property situate in the county of Marin, state of California, heretofore leased to Jess Ferreira in November, 1932, being twenty-five acres in extent and being a portion of a one hundred-acre tract enclosed by a wire fence, occupied by Louis Castiglioni, all of which is a portion of the “Mendoza Ranch” on Point Reyes, near Drake’s Bay. Then follows an allegation that defendants have failed to pay"the rent or any part thereof and have refused to comply with the notices to pay rent or deliver up possession. The complaint was demurred to and the demurrer was overruled. Defendant Louis Castiglioni, answering, denied that the complaint stated a cause of action for unlawful detainer and alleged that the lease and the notices to quit did not sufficiently describe the premises. There was also set up in defense an alleged oral agreement by which the time for payment of rent was agreed to be extended in consideration of the payment of interest and the giving of security in the form of a chattel mortgage upon a Ford truck for the rent due; that defendants had relied upon this agreement and had purchased certain farm machinery and seed for the planting of the rented premises. As a further defense it was alleged that no notice of termination of tenancy of the smaller tract had been given as provided by section 789 of the Civil Code. The answer admits defendants were in possession of one hundred acres of land under an agreement to pay $500 semi-annually, of which $375 was for the seventy-five-acre tract held under a written lease, and $125 for twenty-five acres held under an oral lease, such rents to be paid as alleged in the complaint. It further admits, by failure to deny, that the rents were not paid.