Stuber v. Sowder

The opinion of the court was delivered by The appeal in this case is from an order of the trial court overruling defendant's demurrer to plaintiff's petition, the allegations of which may be summarized as follows: In 1946 plaintiff was engaged in farming in the eastern part of Greenwood county, and in June orally contracted with W.A. Nelson to lease a described twenty-three acres of land owned by him, and on the following terms. Plaintiff was to prepare the seed-bed, furnish the alfalfa seed and phosphate at his own expense and to plant the land to alfalfa and Nelson was to furnish the necessary lime; that plaintiff was to cut and bale the alfalfa for a term of three years, retain one-half of the alfalfa for himself and to deliver to Nelson, free of cost, one-half of the baled alfalfa in a described barn, in which plaintiff could also store his half of the alfalfa; that pursuant to this contract Nelson furnished the lime and limed the field and plaintiff prepared the ground, furnished the seed and phosphate and seeded the land to alfalfa in the fall of 1946; that in the spring of 1947 plaintiff cut, baled and stored the alfalfa in accordance with the contract; that sometime in the summer (the exact date unknown to plaintiff) Nelson sold the farm to the defendant Sowder and orally informed defendant of the rights of the plaintiff to the alfalfa and of his right to harvest the same for the crop years of 1947, 1948 and 1949; that defendant took possession of the farm in the fall of 1947 with the full knowledge of plaintiff's rights; that thereafter plaintiff cut and baled the last cutting of alfalfa for 1947 and stored all of the alfalfa in the barn previously mentioned, placing the one-half of the alfalfa belonging to defendant on one side of the barn and the other half belonging to plaintiff on the other side of the barn; that in May, 1948, plaintiff went to the described real estate for the purpose of cutting and baling the alfalfa in accordance with the terms of his contract and found the gate to the field locked; that he contacted defendant and was informed by him not to come upon the premises, as defendant did not intend to recognize the rights of the plaintiff, although he knew plaintiff's rights at the time of purchasing the property and had recognized them during the latter part of 1947; that plaintiff repeatedly requested permission to enter upon the land for the sole purpose of carrying out the terms of the aforesaid lease, but was refused by defendant, who had proceeded to cut, bale and dispose of the alfalfa, to plaintiff's detriment. There were allegations as to the value of the crop cut by defendant, for which plaintiff prayed judgment, and also allegations that unless restrained and enjoined from doing so defendant would continue to cut the alfalfa and appropriate it to his own use, to plaintiff's great damage, for which he had no adequate remedy at law, and plaintiff prayed defendant be restrained and enjoined from doing so.