Morat v. Sunset Vill., LLC

432 P.3d 327, 294 Or. App. 427
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedOctober 17, 2018
DocketA163572
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 432 P.3d 327 (Morat v. Sunset Vill., LLC) 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
Morat v. Sunset Vill., LLC, 432 P.3d 327, 294 Or. App. 427 (Or. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

DeVORE, J.

*428This case involves a conflict between a tenant and landlord about who pays the cost resulting from a fallen tree in a manufactured dwelling park. At issue are a statute on trees in rented spaces ( ORS 90.727 ), a statute on "unilateral amendment" of a rental agreement ( ORS 90.510(4) ), the terms of the parties' lease, and the trial court's award of attorney fees incurred in court-annexed arbitration. Defendant Sunset Village, LLC (landlord), appeals from general and supplemental judgments that awarded plaintiff Morat (tenant) $1,180 in damages for the costs of tree removal and $33,847 for attorney fees and costs in all underlying proceedings.

We conclude that "unilateral amendment" under ORS 90.510(4) is a permissible means of bringing a rental agreement into compliance with the statute on trees in rented spaces ( ORS 90.727 ) but that ORS 90.510(4) is not itself a limitation on that tree statute. We further conclude that the tree statute does not supersede the terms of the particular lease at issue here. As a result, our construction of the statutes does not disturb the trial court's conclusion about this particular lease. The trial court concluded that the parties' lease required landlord to pay the cost of tree removal. Although we may construe the statutes differently than did the trial court, we agree with the trial court's ultimate conclusion that landlord is responsible for the cost of tree removal. And, we agree that the trial court properly awarded attorney fees incurred in court-annexed arbitration. Therefore, we affirm.

Landlord asserts three assignments of error. We do not address the first assignment because it is not reviewable.1

*429In its second assignment, landlord contends that the trial court erred in "reasoning" that ORS 90.727 does not govern the cost of tree removal. Landlord contends that, even if landlord did not amend the lease to reflect the statute, ORS 90.727 should apply to make the cost of tree removal the tenant's responsibility. Finally, landlord contends that the trial court lacked authority to award attorney fees incurred in court-annexed arbitration under the circumstances of this case.

In recounting matters tried to the court as the factfinder, we view the evidence, including reasonable inferences, in the light most favorable to the prevailing party. See *330Northwest Natural Gas Co. v. Chase Gardens, Inc. , 333 Or. 304, 313, 39 P.3d 846 (2002) (on contract claim, the appellate court views facts determined by the factfinder in the light most favorable to prevailing party).

Tenant is a resident in Sunset Village, a manufactured dwelling park for residents 55 or older. In September 1992 he signed a lease that incorporated the rules and regulations of the park. Under a heading titled "Improvements to the leased space," the lease provided that the "leased space shall be landscaped by tenant, and shall be maintained at all times in a neat, clean, and orderly condition." The incorporated rules added a section on "lot maintenance" that provided, "Tenants are responsible for maintaining all lawn areas, flowers, and shrubbery within their space." Tenant testified that those documents comprised the parties' agreement and that they had not been amended at any time since.

For the next 23 years of his residency, according to tenant, the park management "always took care of the cost and the removal of any tree that blew over."2 For about *43025 years, ending in 2014, Gerht-Salem was the onsite manager of the park. She had prompted tenant to sign the lease agreement. During her tenure, she said there had been no amendment of the lease or incorporated rules. The park had then been owned by her father, and he had always said that trees are real property and that it was his property. She understood the policy to be, "If the trees have fallen, then we remove them. We pay for them[.]" Gerht-Salem implemented the policy. She recalled a bad storm in 2008 when 15 or 16 trees fell. The park assumed responsibility and paid about $20,000 for tree removal. She added that, when a tree was blown down, she did not consider its removal to be in the nature of pruning.

On the night of February 8, 2015, a storm caused a tall conifer on tenant's space to fall and damage a second tree. The next morning, Evans, the current onsite manager of Sunset Village, told tenant to pay to remove the fallen and damaged trees. Later, Evans sent a letter to tenant with a copy of a recent statute on trees in manufactured dwelling parks, ORS 90.727.3 The letter advised tenant that, pursuant to ORS 90.727, it was his responsibility to pay for the tree removal. Tenant objected that tree maintenance was landlord's responsibility, arguing that landlord had always taken care of the cost of downed trees. Nonetheless, concerned about his tenancy, tenant solicited several bids, advised landlord, and, under protest, paid $1,180 for the trees' removal.

Thereafter, tenant filed a complaint against landlord in which he alleged, in part:

"5. Maintenance Agreement. As part of the tenancy agreement between [tenant] and [landlord], and by established practice, [landlord] was and is responsible for the maintenance and removal of trees within [tenant's] rental space."

*431Tenant alleged that landlord's refusal to remove the trees at its expense was a breach of the tenancy agreement. Tenant alleged a right to recover attorney fees under the tenancy agreement and ORS 90.255, a statute that provides for recovery of attorney fees in an action on a rental agreement. In its trial memo, landlord acknowledged that the claim was "for damages for breach of the residential rental agreement."

The case was framed by the trial court's ruling on landlord's motion for summary judgment that preceded trial.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
432 P.3d 327, 294 Or. App. 427, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morat-v-sunset-vill-llc-orctapp-2018.