Security Loan & Trust Co. v. Willamette Steam Mills L. & M. Co.

Citations

• 99 Cal. 636

Syllabus

<p>Landlord and Tenant—Removal of Trade Fixtures—Building Erected by Lumber Dealer__A building erected by a lumber company on ground leased for a lumber yard, for use as a lumber office and a place for its employees to sleep, which rests upon short posts or underpinning on top of sills laid upon the ground, and bridges built across a zanja for the purpose of giving access to the yard, which consist of stringers with planks nailed to them, constitute trade fixtures within the meaning of section 1019 of the Civil Code, and as such are removable by the tenant from the leased premises at any time during the term.</p> <p>Id. — Conveyance of Land to Lessee—Mortgage—Merger—Action for Removal of Fixtures—Evidence. —Where the vendee of premises in possession under a contract of sale executed a lease of the premises to the agent of a lumber company, and ordered a conveyance to be made to such agent, who assigned the lease aud conveyed the premises to the lumber company, which afterwards reeouveyed the premises to the lessor, in an action by a vendee claiming under Such lessor to recover damages from the lumber company for the removal of fixtures from the premises, it is competent for the lumber company to prove that the deed of the land to its agent was in effect a mortgage, and that during the entire term the defendant was in possession of the premises, and paid the rent under the lease, for the purpose of showing that there was no merger of the chattel in the realty, or of the leasehold interest in the legal title.</p> <p>Id. — Possession as Notice of Equities__One who purchases land in the possession of a third person has no right to rely on the record title alone in making the purchase, but is bound to look beyond the record title for the purpose of ascertaining what rights and equities, if any, the party in possession has in the premises.</p>