Hollar v. Saline Products, Inc.

BARNARD, P. J. The plaintiff brought this action to cancel a lease of real property, to obtain possession and for other relief. By stipulation and order Ralph S. Armour, the present receiver for Saline Products, Inc., has been added as a party appellant.

The complaint alleges that a lease covering the lands in question was entered into in 1921 between one John G. Clark as lessor and X. H. Hollar as lessee; that the interests of said lessor have passed by assignment to the plaintiff and the interests of said lessee have passed to the defendants; that certain rents and royalties due under the lease have not been paid by the defendants; that the defendants have further breached the lease in that they have attorned to a stranger to the title; and that since May 29, 1931, the defendant corporation has refused to deal with the plaintiff as its landlord and lessor. It is further alleged that the corporation defendant has permitted its affairs to be under the control of a receiver since March 4, 1932, and that said receiver has denied the title of plaintiff and has attorned to a stranger to the title. The prayer is for cancellation of the lease, for immediate possession of the property and for judgment for all rents and royalties due. By their answers the defendants denied that any of said property was leased by John G. Clark as lessor to X. H. Hollar as lessee, that any interest of the lessor was transferred to this plaintiff ■ or that any interest of the lessee was transferred to the defendant corporation, that the defendant corporation had been in possession of said land under said lease at any time, and that the plaintiff had ever acquired an interest as a lessor [545]in any such lease or in any lease. The answers further admit that on May 29, 1931, the defendant corporation entered into a lease with Western Salines, Inc., a corporation, covering these lands and has continued to occupy said lands as the lessee of that corporation. It is then alleged that prior to the last-named date one Knute B. Norswing acquired all the right, title and interest of this plaintiff in and to said lands and has ever since continued to be the owner thereof, and that the lease between Western Salines, Inc., and this corporation defendant was entered into with the knowledge and consent of said Norswing. The trial court found in favor of the plaintiff on all of the issues but made a reference for an accounting as to the amounts of rents and royalties due. An appeal was taken which was dismissed as premature since a final judgment had not been entered. (Hollar v. Saline Products, Inc., 3 Cal. (2d) 80 [43 Pac. (2d) 273].) Thereafter, an accounting was had and a final judgment was entered from which this appeal was taken.