Holladay Corp. v. Turkin

443 A.2d 1328, 1982 D.C. App. LEXIS 322
CourtDistrict of Columbia Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 31, 1982
Docket80-1221
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 443 A.2d 1328 (Holladay Corp. v. Turkin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District of Columbia Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Holladay Corp. v. Turkin, 443 A.2d 1328, 1982 D.C. App. LEXIS 322 (D.C. 1982).

Opinion

NEBEKER, Associate Judge:

This case stems from a suit filed by appellant, Holladay Corporation (hereinafter *1329 “owner”), in the Landlord and Tenant Branch of the Superior Court to gain possession of an apartment building. The action resulted in a settlement agreement between the owner and the Tenant Association which provided that the tenants would vacate their respective apartments by a specified date and that the owner would pay each tenant a sum certain once possession of the apartment was regained. At the time of the settlement agreement, ap-pellees were not signatory lease tenants but occupied the two apartments by leave of those tenants. Appellees were members of the Tenants Association. They vacated their apartment prior to the date specified in the agreement and requested the payment. Their request was denied. Appel-lees brought suit in the Civil Division alleging breach of contract, and subsequently filed a motion for summary judgment. The trial court granted the motion and ordered the owner to pay each appellee $2,998.47 plus interest and costs. This appeal followed. We hold that there is a genuine issue of material fact. Accordingly, we reverse and remand for further proceedings.

On June 21,1978, all tenants in the apartment building were served with a 180-day notice to quit and vacate pursuant to § 501(b)(5)(D) of the District of Columbia Rental Housing Act of 1977 (D.C.Law 2-54). 1 The notices terminated the tenancies effective December 31. At the time the notices were received, Mr. D. Giovannuchi and Mr. H. Segal were signatory lease tenants.

On June 27, appellee Elizabeth O’Sullivan assumed occupancy of apartment 210 from Giovannuchi, although she did not sign a written lease with the owner. The record reflects that O’Sullivan occupied the apartment pursuant to an oral agreement with Giovannuchi, to whom she paid her monthly rent. Giovannuchi then paid the rent. However, O’Sullivan states in an affidavit that her possession of the apartment was known to the owner because she personally requested of its agent that repairs be made on the premises, and that the repairs were made. In December, appellee Matthew Turkin assumed occupancy of apartment 227 from Segal. Turkin stated in his affidavit that he paid his monthly rent in his own name in the form of money orders, and that the owner accepted the payments.

The suit for possession of all the apartments was filed on January 3, 1979. For apartments 210 and 227 Giovannuchi and Segal were named as the respective defendants, and appellees quickly filed motions to intervene. Pursuant to a praecipe filed January 24, the owner and all tenants named as defendants established an escrow account in an area bank for the deposit of all rents. The praecipe stated that the tenants were to commence paying their rent into that account on January 26, at which time about one quarter of the rent for January was due. On that date, Giovannu-chi and Segal were still named as defendants, so appellees voluntarily paid that amount of their January rent into the account pending a decision on their motions to intervene. Appellees’ rents for February and March were similarly deposited. On March 13, appellees filed notices with the *1330 court regarding their three voluntary payments.

The record is void of any information regarding Giovannuchi’s and Segal’s involvement in the escrow account. Furthermore, although Turkin assumed occupancy on December 10 and claims that he paid his rent with money orders which the owner “accepted,” the record does not provide any specific evidence regarding how and to whom he paid his rent for the period from December 10 to January 26. The record also fails to explain why Turkin’s partial January rent was still due and owing on January 26. Therefore, it is unclear whether Turkin paid any rent prior to his voluntary payments into the escrow account. The praecipe of January 24 further stated that the tenants’ counsel would provide the owner’s counsel and the court with a list of all tenants who did not meet the required payment by the 9th day of each month. The record does not reflect any such notification. Therefore, it is not established that the owner knew that appellees were paying in Giovannuchi’s and Segal’s stead prior to appellees’ March 18 notice to the court. 2

On April 24, 1979, the owner and the Tenants Association entered into a settlement agreement. The parties agreed, inter alia, that the tenants would vacate their apartments by June 30. The final paragraph of the settlement agreement states: “This Agreement shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the Tenants Association and all of the individual tenants residing in the Building.” The agreement was approved by the court and the possession action was dismissed. All monies in the escrow account were released to the owner. No action was ever taken on appellees’ motions to intervene, and on or about May 1, appellees vacated their apartments.

Paragraph two of the agreement reads in pertinent part:

The owner hereby agrees that within 24 hours following the vacation of each apartment of the Building, the occupants) of that apartment shall be paid the sum of $3,250.00 in cash on account of that apartment, less a deduction, to the extent necessary, on account of unpaid rent due for that apartment as of the date of the vacation thereof; provided, that the foregoing payment obligation shall not apply with respect to any apartments) whose occupancy is unauthorized .... [Emphasis added.]

Attached to the approved agreement were signed statements from each Tenants Association member, including appellees. Those statements all read as follows:

The undersigned Tenant of 2512 Q Street, N.W., Washington, D. C. does hereby join in and agree to the foregoing and annexed Agreement between the 2512 Q Street Tenants Association and The Holladay Corporation, and agrees to be bound by all of the terms thereof.

Giovannuchi and Segal submitted no statements.

The trial judge held that the sentence in paragraph two which excluded unauthorized occupants did not apply to appellees. He reasoned that appellees’ signed statements attached to the settlement agreement were accepted by the owner. We think this reasoning obscured the factual issue requiring a trial.

To survive a summary judgment motion, “the opposing party need only show that there is sufficient evidence supporting the claimed factual dispute to require a jury or judge to resolve the parties’ differing versions of the truth at trial.” Nader v. de Toledano, D.C.App., 408 A.2d 31, 42 (1979), quoting International Underwriters, Inc. v. Boyle, D.C.App., 365 A.2d 779, 782 (1976). The role of the court is not to resolve issues of fact but rather to see if “the record .. . demonstrate^] that there is no issue of fact from which a jury could find” for the non-moving party. Id. The use of “summary judgment is inappropriate when such fac *1331

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Bluebook (online)
443 A.2d 1328, 1982 D.C. App. LEXIS 322, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/holladay-corp-v-turkin-dc-1982.