LeBrun v. Cal-Am Properties, Inc.

106 P.3d 647, 197 Or. App. 177
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedJanuary 26, 2005
DocketC01-2581CV; A121146
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 106 P.3d 647 (LeBrun v. Cal-Am Properties, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
LeBrun v. Cal-Am Properties, Inc., 106 P.3d 647, 197 Or. App. 177 (Or. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

SCHUMAN, J.

This case arises from disputes between two tenants of a manufactured home park and their landlord, but the appeal largely concerns the attorneys and their fees. The tenants each sued defendants (landlord)1 for breach of a rental agreement and for unlawful entry under ORS 90.322, a provision of the Oregon Residential Landlord Tenant Act (ORLTA), ORS 90.100 to 90.875. Landlord counterclaimed against both tenants: Against Rudnick, it asserted that, under the terms of the rental agreement, she owed defendant fees for late payment of rent; against LeBrun, landlord sued in quantum meruit for the cost of a post that landlord had installed to protect a part of LeBrun’s dwelling that LeBrun allegedly had damaged. Landlord successfully defended against both tenants’ breach of rental agreement claims and against Rudnick’s unlawful entry claim but lost both its counterclaims and the unlawful entry claim asserted by LeBrun.2

LeBrun and landlord petitioned for attorney fees and costs under ORCP 68 as well as for enhanced prevailing party fees under ORS 20.190(3). The trial court denied attorney fees to landlord for its successful defense against the breach of contract claims but awarded it enhanced prevailing party fees against both tenants on those claims. The court also awarded attorney fees to both tenants — to LeBrun for successfully defending against landlord’s counterclaims for quantum meruit, and to Rudnick for successfully defending against landlord’s counterclaim for late fees.

Landlord asserts five assignments of error. It argues that the trial court erred in (1) awarding damages to LeBrun under ORS 90.725(6) because, according to landlord, that statute does not permit a damages action unless the plaintiff also (or first) sues for injunctive relief or termination of the rental agreement; (2) refiising to award landlord’s requested attorney fees for successfully defending against tenants’ breach of contract claims; (3) awarding compensation for only [180]*180four hours for landlord’s successful defense against Rudnick’s unlawful entry claim instead of the 61 hours that landlord requested; (4) awarding attorney fees to Rudnick for successfully defending against landlord’s counterclaim when Rudnick failed to file a fee petition under ORCP 68 C; and (5) awarding attorney fees to LeBrun for successfully defending against landlord’s quantum meruit counterclaim.

Tenants cross-appeal, assigning error to (1) the trial court’s determination that landlord was a prevailing party with respect to tenants’ breach of rental agreement claims; and (2) the trial court’s award of enhanced prevailing party fees against tenants.

I. DAMAGES UNDER ORS 90.725(6)

We first consider whether ORS 90.725, which limits a landlord’s right to enter leased premises, permits a tenant to bring an action for damages when the tenant does not also seek injunctive relief or termination of a lease. The remedy provision of the unlawful entry statute is ORS 90.725(6). It provides:

“If the landlord makes an unlawful entry or a lawful entry in an unreasonable manner or makes repeated demands for entry otherwise lawful but that have the effect of unreasonably harassing the tenant, the tenant may obtain injunctive relief to prevent the reoccurrence of the conduct or may terminate the rental agreement pursuant to ORS 90.620(1). In addition, the tenant may recover actual damages not less than an amount equal to one month’s rent.”

The parties dispute the meaning of the phrase “[i]n addition.” Landlord argues that the phrase means that a tenant may bring an action for damages only if he or she also brings an action for lease termination or an injunction. In other words, landlord reads the second sentence of the subsection to mean that “the tenant may recover actual damages” but only in addition to injunctive relief or termination. Tenants, on the other hand, argue that each remedy is individually and separately available, that is, that the statute does not preclude an action only for damages; tenants read the second sentence [181]*181of the subsection to mean that “the tenant has the additional option of recovering actual damages.”

We agree with tenants. Their reading of the text is considerably less strained than landlord’s. The phrase “in addition” is not an unusual or technical term. In normal discourse, it would not be used as landlord would have us use it here. A typical speaker of American English would understand the phrase, “You may choose an apple or an orange. In addition, you may choose a banana,” to mean that he or she could choose any of the three fruits — and not that the phrase conditions the hearer’s ability to choose a banana on also choosing either an apple or an orange. The latter option would more typically be phrased, “You may choose an apple or an orange. In addition, if and only if you choose one of those, you may have a banana.”

Recourse to the dictionary confirms the matter. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary does not define the phrase “in addition.” Under the entry for the word “addition,” however, the dictionary lists the phrase “in addition” and directs the reader to a synonymous cross-reference for that phrase. Webster’s Third New Int’l Dictionary 24 (unabridged ed 2002). The cross-reference points to specific definitions for the term “besides,” which are “in addition” or “over and above.” Id. at 207. If substituted for “in addition” in ORS 90.725(6), the terms “besides” or “over and above” would function to signify a third option in a series: “tenant may terminate the lease, seek an injunction; besides (or, over and above) those, tenant may sue for actual damages.”

Finally, the statute’s legislative history is instructive. The phrase “in addition” entered ORS 90.725(6) in 1985; before that time, the predecessor statute, ORS 91.860, provided:

“If the landlord makes an unlawful entry * * * the tenant may obtain injunctive relief to prevent the reoccurrence of the conduct or may terminate the rental agreement. In either case the tenant may recover actual damages * * *.”

(Emphasis added.) In 1985, the legislative assembly replaced the phrase “[i]n either case” with “[i]n addition.” Or Laws 1985, ch 588, § 9. The author of the change told the House [182]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Moir v. Ozeruga
496 P.3d 655 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2021)
Stanton v. Medellin
481 P.3d 1004 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2021)
Goodsell v. Eagle-Air Estates Homeowners Ass'n
383 P.3d 365 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2016)
Charter v. Kearney (In re Colen)
516 B.R. 618 (D. Oregon, 2014)
Robert Camel Contracting, Inc. v. Krautscheid
134 P.3d 1065 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2006)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
106 P.3d 647, 197 Or. App. 177, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lebrun-v-cal-am-properties-inc-orctapp-2005.