Local 325 of United Food & Commercial Workers Union v. Commonwealth

571 A.2d 557, 132 Pa. Commw. 1, 1990 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 175
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 15, 1990
DocketNo. 1641 C.D. 1989
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 571 A.2d 557 (Local 325 of United Food & Commercial Workers Union v. Commonwealth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Local 325 of United Food & Commercial Workers Union v. Commonwealth, 571 A.2d 557, 132 Pa. Commw. 1, 1990 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 175 (Pa. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

DOYLE, Judge.

Before us for consideration is the appeal of Local 325 of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (Local 325) from an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County which sustained preliminary objections to Local 325’s petition for the appointment of viewers filed by the Department of Transportation (Department) and dismissed Local 325’s general damage claim. We affirm in part, and remand for a determination on the issue of business dislocation damages.

Local 325 leased the second floor of a building located at 1118 East Ohio Street, Pittsburgh, from Local 23 of the same union, the owner of the building. The lease agreement was oral, and there is no definitive statement in the record as to the period of the tenancy. Although Local 23 as the owner of the building was informed by the Department as early as June 1982 that the property was required [3]*3for the construction of a portion of Interstate 279, apparently it was not until March 28, 1984 that the Department, without filing a formal declaration of taking, issued a Notice of Intent to Acquire and informed Local 325 of its entitlement to relocation benefits. Within the month, in April 1984, Local 325 moved into new quarters which it had previously purchased and renovated.

Thereafter, on December 20, 1984, without a declaration of taking being filed, Local 23 entered into an agreement of sale with the Department and conveyed the entire fee interest to the Department by a deed in lieu of condemnation dated that same day. Both the agreement of sale and the deed recited that the seller would indemnify the Department “against any claim made by any lessee of the aforesaid property who has not entered into a Settlement Agreement with the COMMONWEALTH.”

Local 325 subsequently filed its petition for the appointment of viewers alleging a de facto taking pursuant to Section 502(e) of the Eminent Domain Code 1 (Code), 26 P.S. § 1-502(e), and claimed damages for the Department’s condemnation of its leasehold interest and business dislocation damages under Section 601-A(b)(3) and (4) of the Code, 26 P.S. § 1-601A(b)(3), (4). The Department filed preliminary objections which were sustained by the common pleas court on the basis that the question of the total value of the taking was settled with the purchase of the property from the owner, Local 23, and that Local 325 as the tenant had no separate claim for its leasehold interest.

Before this Court, Local 325 contends that the purchase agreement between the Department and Local 23 as owner of the building does not serve to bar its claim against the Department for the taking of its leasehold. As support for this proposition Local 325 relies upon Department of Transportation v, DeFurio, 124 Pa.Commonwealth Ct. 273, 555 A.2d 1379 (1989). In that case a divided panel of this Court upheld the common pleas court’s dismissal of the [4]*4Department’s preliminary objections to DeFurio’s petition for the appointment of viewers wherein he alleged a de facto taking of his leasehold, on the premise that DeFurio proved a substantial interference with the beneficial use and enjoyment of his leasehold, notwithstanding a provision in the lease which appeared to work a forfeiture of DeFurio’s claim. Local 325 argues that its position is even stronger than DeFurio’s because (1) while DeFurio was a party to the lease which contained the forfeiture clause, Local 325 was not a party to the sales agreement which in this case contains the indemnity provision quoted supra, and (2) its oral lease with Local 23 contained no assignment of condemnation damages or forfeiture provision.

The Department contends on the other hand that DeFurio is inapplicable to this case, and further contends that because Local 325’s lease with Local 23 was oral, and because Local 325 vacated the premises before the agreement of sale was executed, Local 325 was not, under our Supreme Court’s decision in Fisher v. Pittsburgh Public Parking Authority, 433 Pa. 113, 248 A.2d 849 (1969), a tenant at the relevant time period when the taking occurred and hence was not a condemnee. The Department also contends that because it paid the owner of the building the fair market value, payment of additional damages to Local 325 would be contrary to the Code.

We agree with the Department’s position. In Fisher, the premises occupied by the lessees were purchased by the parking authority by private negotiations with the owner and not by acquisition through condemnation. At the time of the sale, the lessees were in possession of their leasehold, and each lessee was permitted by the parking authority to remain on the leased premises until each lease had expired. Only when all the leases had expired did the lessees vacate the premises. The parking authority then caused the premises to be torn down. The lessees petitioned the common pleas court for the appointment of a board of viewers and claimed business dislocation damages under Section 609 of [5]*5the Code, 26 P.S. § 1-609.2 The common pleas court sustained the parking authority’s preliminary objections and the lessees appealed.

In addressing the question of whether the lessees were entitled to damages after termination of their leases, the Supreme Court held that a tenant whose lease has expired is not a condemnee under the Code and that, when their leases expired, the lessees no longer had any property interest in the leased premises, and there was no interference with, or deprivation of, their possession, beneficial use, or enjoyment of their leasehold interest. The Court concluded that where the tenant’s lease expired prior to condemnation, the tenant suffered no compensable injury and [6]*6that it is more clear that such a tenant suffers no injury where the land is purchased rather than condemned.

In the instant case, Local 325 had an oral lease with Local 23 “as long as the premises were available at a fair rent.” Other than the fact that the oral agreement was automatically renewed each year subject to mutually agreeable rent adjustments and that the rent was payable monthly, there are no other relevant lease provisions apparent in the record. It has long been held that an oral lease for a monthly sum without more constitutes a month to month tenancy. Jones v. Kroll, 116 Pa. 85, 8 A. 857 (1887); Hollis v. Burns, 100 Pa. 206 (1882). Viewed as such, Local 325’s lease was a month to month tenancy which terminated when it vacated the premises at 1118 East Ohio Street in April 1984. It is clear from the record that the agreement of sale and the deed between Local 23 and the Department did not occur until December 1984. Accordingly, under Fisher, Local 325’s property interest in 1118 East Ohio Street had terminated in April 1984, and it therefore suffered no compensable injury. It is the lack of a property interest, among other things, that serves to distinguish this case from DeFurio.

The Department’s argument regarding the payment of the fair market value paid to Local 23 as owner is equally well taken. Damages are awarded as “just compensation” under Article 1, Section 10 of the Pennsylvania Constitution and Section 601 of the Code, 26 P.S. § 1-601. Just compensation is defined by Section 602(a) of the Code, 26 P.S. § 1-602(a), as follows:

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Bluebook (online)
571 A.2d 557, 132 Pa. Commw. 1, 1990 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 175, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/local-325-of-united-food-commercial-workers-union-v-commonwealth-pacommwct-1990.