Castle v. Armstead

Headnote

Castle v. Armstead, 168 App. Div. 466 , affirmed.

Appeal from a judgment of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the second judicial department, entered May 15, 1915, affirming a judgment in favor of defendant entered upon a dismissal of the complaint by the court at a Trial Term without a jury. Between September 6, 1910, and April 1,1912, Henry D. Lott and John Watt were, successively, the owners and entitled to possession of the premises described in the complaint; on September 6, 1910, defendant made a contract for the purchase of those premises with the then owner’s agent, in the latter’s name, but with the owner’s knowledge and consent; paid $500 thereon, and on September 15, 1910, moved into the premises; on April 1, 1912, the defendant rescinded the contract and moved out, and

thereafter received back the $5003 with interest; the reasonable value of the occupancy of this house, during that period, was $60 per month, and the claims against the defendant for occupying it during that time have been assigned by the said owners to these plaintiffs. The plaintiffs sue for the use and occupation of the premises from September 15, 1910, to April 1, 1912 (a period of a year and a half during which the defendant occupied and used the premises), claiming that the rescission of the contract vitally changed the entire relations of the parties to it, and destroyed all rights under it from its date to its rescission.