Moore v. Grossman

10 Pa. D. & C.5th 566
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Berks County
DecidedJanuary 27, 2010
Docketno. 7389-2008
StatusPublished

This text of 10 Pa. D. & C.5th 566 (Moore v. Grossman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Berks County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Moore v. Grossman, 10 Pa. D. & C.5th 566 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2010).

Opinion

SPRECHER, J.,

Defendant appeals the decision and verdict of this court which found in favor of plaintiff and against defendant in Count I for breach of contract with no damages, in favor of defendant and against plaintiff in Count II for unfair trade practices, in favor of plaintiff and against defendant in Count III for replevin in the amount of $2,781.97, and in favor of plaintiff and against defendant on defendant’s counterclaim. This opinion is filed pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925.

FACTS

Plaintiff, Daniel Moore, is an architectural designer. Defendant, Damon M. Grossman, does business as “D. M. Grossman Remodeling” and provides remodeling services. Plaintiff wanted, inter alia, to enlarge a bathroom in his residence. On November 13, 2007, the parties entered into an agreement for defendant to provide the remodeling services for a total price of $6,843.94, payable in three installments. The first payment of $3,421.97 was due three days prior to the start of the job. The second payment of $1,710.99 was due upon request, and the third and final payment of $1,710.98 was due at the completion of the job. Each party was to supply certain necessary items to complete the project.

Defendant wrote the agreement which is on his letterhead. Defendant’s services, including the fact that he provides “24-hour emergency services,” are listed on the [568]*568letterhead. Included on the printed stationery is the statement “We accept all major credit cards.”

On November 21, 2007, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, defendant’s wife, Gwen Grossman, called plaintiff and stated that she needed the first payment that was due three days prior to the commencement of the work because defendant was starting the work on Monday, November 26, 2007. Plaintiff went to defendant’s business and made the payment with a credit card. Ms. Grossman testified that the credit card payment was deposited in defendant’s account on November 26, 2007.

As part of the remodeling services, defendant was to replace the basement door. Defendant informed plaintiff that he was going to do this first to have easier access to the residence. The basement door had been chewed by animals at the bottom. Plaintiff had secured the door by screwing a large three-quarter inch plywood board over the hole and into the door frame so the door was no longer usable. Plaintiff unlocked the door on November 26, 2007, for defendant to have access to the residence.

Defendant did not show up for work on November 26, 2007. Plaintiff called defendant to find out why he had not started the renovations. Defendant told him that he had taken care of emergencies and that he would start the work on Wednesday, November 28,2007. Defendant, however, testified that he had not started the work on November 26,2007, because he had been waiting for the money from plaintiff’s credit card account to be deposited into his account. Pie had proceeded to work when the money was deposited.

[569]*569On Wednesday, November 28, 2007, defendant and three other employees started the demolition work on the bathroom. They arrived between 7 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. They tore out the bath, the shower, the toilet, the sink, two walls, and reattached wires in the ceiling. They finished working sometime between 3 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Defendant testified that he had not removed the basement door because he had run out of time. Defendant ran out of room in the dump truck, so he did not remove the flooring and dry wall in the bathroom on that day.

When plaintiff came home on November 28, 2007, the odor of sewer gas permeated the entire house. The drains were not capped. The electricity was not functioning in the front quarter of the residence. Plaintiff hired others to cap the wires and to finish cutting pipes and capping them. Defendant and his employees, however, testified that they had not left any wires exposed when they had completed work on November 28,2007. Plaintiff testified that defendant had, in fact, taken the plywood off the basement door. The door remained hanging with a big hole in it so the residence was no longer secure, and there was additional work that could have been done even without blueprints.

Defendant did not return to the residence the rest of the week. He claimed that he had a water emergency on November 29,2007. He did not return on November 30, 2007, because he was too tired from handling the emergency. He did not communicate with plaintiff during this period.

Defendant had another water emergency on Monday, December 3, 2007. Ms. Grossman called around noon [570]*570on that day to tell plaintiff that defendant would not be there that day and probably not on the following day. She further informed plaintiff that she would have to call back about when the work could be done. On December 4,2007, plaintiff spoke again to Ms. Grossman and told her that defendant was fired.

Defendant testified that he had been willing to proceed on December 4,2007, if plaintiff had supplied him with a blueprint and the necessary items that plaintiff was supposed to supply. Plaintiff had made two handwritten drawings. One drawing showed the demolition plan and the other showed the finished condition of the bathroom after the remodeling was completed. Plaintiff considered these drawings to be blueprints. Defendant testified that these drawings were not “real blueprints” and were insufficient to complete the remodeling portion of the project. Defendant had wanted a blueprint with precise measurements. However, even without a blueprint, defendant admitted that he would have had enough work at the residence for at least one-half day. There was no testimony that plaintiff had refused to provide defendant with a more detailed blueprint. Defendant further stated that he could not guarantee a specific completion date because he operates a 24-hour emergency service. Defendant did not purchase anything for the project except 2 x 4s.

Plaintiff testified that he wanted the money from the first installment returned to him minus the money that was owed to defendant for the work that was done on November 28, 2007. Defendant contended that he was unable to perform the work due to plaintiff’s conduct. [571]*571Based on the foregoing evidence, this court found that plaintiff was entitled to get the return of his deposit minus defendant’s labor costs. This court entered the decision which defendant now appeals.

ISSUES

Defendant raises six issues in his concise statement of errors complained of on appeal filed pursuant to Pennsylvania Rule of Appellate Procedure 1925(b):

(1) Whether this court erred in finding in favor of plaintiff and against defendant on Count III of plaintiff’s complaint for replevin inasmuch as replevin is an action to regain possession of goods and chattels from a defendant and money may only be the proper subject of replevin if it is easily susceptible to ready and positive identification. The evidence presented during trial failed to establish the existence of property that would be the proper subject of a replevin action.

(2) Whether this court erred in awarding monetary damages in favor of plaintiff and against defendant on Count III for replevin inasmuch as the primary purpose of an action in replevin is to recover property in specie and not to recover payments made in a breach of contract claim. The evidence presented during trial failed to establish a basis for an award of damages in a replevin action.

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Related

Commonwealth v. Dean
369 A.2d 423 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1976)
Little v. Little
657 A.2d 12 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1995)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
10 Pa. D. & C.5th 566, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moore-v-grossman-pactcomplberks-2010.