R & R Welding Supply Company v. City of Des Moines

This is an appeal from an interlocutory ruling of the Polk District Court wherein it was held as a matter of law that a lessee, in a condemnation proceeding brought by the City of Des Moines, could maintain an action for loss of leasehold interest, even though the written lease contained a clause which provided that the lease would terminate if the entire leased premises were taken under power of eminent domain.

The lease in question was executed in 1956. The Urban Renewal Law (chapter 403 of the Code), under which the property was condemned, was not enacted until 1957.

The sole issue is the…