Shenkin v. Schermerhorn

18 Pa. D. & C. 470, 1933 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 380
CourtPennylvania Municipal Court, Philadelphia County
DecidedApril 6, 1933
DocketNo. 490
StatusPublished

This text of 18 Pa. D. & C. 470 (Shenkin v. Schermerhorn) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennylvania Municipal Court, Philadelphia County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Shenkin v. Schermerhorn, 18 Pa. D. & C. 470, 1933 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 380 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1933).

Opinion

Gable, J.,

This is an action brought by the plaintiff and lessee against the defendant lessors to recover damages for an alleged eviction of the plaintiff from the demised premises.

To the statement of claim filed by the plaintiff the defendants filed an affidavit of defense raising questions of law in lieu of demurrer.

On July 2,1932, defendants leased to the plaintiff a lot of ground on premises situate and numbered 3711 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, for three years from August 6, 1932, for the annual rent of $900 for the first year of the term and $1200 annually thereafter, payable monthly in advance.

The lease provided, inter alia, that the lessee “shall not occupy, or permit to be occupied, the demised premises other than as a gasoline service station and parking lot.” The lessee further agreed “in the event of him or her, or any one resident in the premises . . . doing or allowing to be done any act or thing which shall be contrary to the rules and regulations ... of any of the constituted state or municipal authorities, then, in that case, this lease shall, at the option of the lessor, expressed by written notice, absolutely cease and deter[471]*471mine; the lessee hereby releasing unto the lessor any and all rights or demands whatsoever.”

The lessee further agreed “at its own expense to comply with and perform all rules and requirements of municipal, state and other authority . . . with reference to the demised premises. . . .”

Pursuant to the lease, the lessee entered into possession and commenced to have certain work performed for the purpose of rendering the lot suitable for the operation of a gasoline station and parking lot.

From the averments of the statement of claim it appears that on or about August 24, 1932, the plaintiff received a communication from counsel for one Edith M. Dohan, informing plaintiff that “an injunction had been issued restraining the use of the demised premises as a gasoline service station and garage,” and that he was likewise informed “by duly authorized representatives of the City of Philadelphia that he would be subject to arrest if he used the premises for the purpose for which he had leased them.”

It appears from the records of the action (to which reference is made in the plaintiff’s statement of claim) of Tabernacle Presbyterian Church v. Abraham Sharp, in Court of Common Pleas No. 2, as of December Term, 1924, No. 14608, that President Judge Stern, of that court, on April 13,1925, granted a preliminary injunction “enjoining and restraining the defendants from constructing, maintaining or operating a public service garage at No. 3711 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa., until further hearing and order of the court.”

Plaintiff further asserts that he was not, prior to August 24, 1932, informed or notified by the defendants of the existence of the aforesaid injunction, while the defendants “had knowledge or should have had knowledge” of the existence of the injunction and order.

The plaintiff, in his pleading, itemizes his various expenditures for work and labor performed and materials furnished in connection with the preparation of the lot for his use, and in addition to said items further claims the amount of an alleged depreciation in articles of personal property allegedly purchased by him in anticipation of the use of the said premises for the garage business, and likewise claims the amounts allegedly expended by him as wages to his employes for the time he occupied the demised premises. He finally alleges a loss of $1000 in the value of his leasehold; all claims appear to be based upon the alleged failure on the part of the defendants to “maintain quiet enjoyment of the demised premises by the plaintiff.”

The defendants’ affidavit of defense pursuant to section twenty of the Practice Act challenges the legal sufficiency of the averments in the plaintiff’s pleading.

The principal questions presented for our determination are: (1) Do the facts averred by the plaintiff constitute an invasion of plaintiff lessee’s right to quiet enjoyment of the demised premises for which an action may be maintained against the defendant lessors? (2) Does the restriction in the lease in favor of the lessor concerning the use of the demised premises constitute an implied warranty on the part of the landlord that the demised premises are suitable for the purposes specified in the lease, or that they will continue so? (3) Does an alleged threat or notice on the part of a third person constitute such an interference with the tenant’s use and enjoyment of the demised premises, where the lessee makes no effort to use the premises for the purpose specified, or to obtain a modification of the preliminary injunction in a pending action involving the premises?

It is well established that to create or support a cause of action for breach of covenant for quiet enjoyment it is indispensable that the facts should establish [472]*472an actual or constructive eviction: Bromberger v. Empire Flash Light Co., Inc., 138 Misc. 754, 246 N. Y. Supp. 67.

“While it is within the power of the parties to a lease to make a covenant for quiet enjoyment which may be broken without eviction either actual or constructive, ordinarily an eviction is regarded as essential . . . the acts relied on must amount to more than a trespass or a mere interference with the beneficial use of the premises:” 36 C. J. 78, Sec. 697. The broad rule has thus been laid down that a covenant for quiet enjoyment is not broken by anything short of an actual or constructive eviction: 16 R. C. L. 769, Sec. 265; 36 C. J. 78, Sec. 697.

The only acts occasioning the alleged breach on the part Of the defendant lessors of the implied covenant of quiet enjoyment, as appears from the plaintiff’s pleading, are the acts of third persons. The communication from a third person, informing the plaintiff of the alleged issuance of an injunction purporting to prohibit the use of the demised premises for the purpose specified in the lease is vaguely set out in the statement of claim, no copy thereof appearing therein. The bare averment that plaintiff was informed by “duly authorized representatives of the City of Philadelphia that he would be subject to arrest if he used the pi'emises for the purposes for which he had leased them” is clearly insufficient to justify an inference that the defendant lessors were chargeable for any act of commission or omission amounting to a disturbance of the tenant’s quiet enjoyment.

Unless the contrary is expressed, every lease for a term carries an implied covenant for quiet enjoyment of the premises. This is the meaning and significance of the usual clause of “let and demise:” Hemphill et al. v. Eckfeldt, 5 Whart. 274; Maule v. Ashmead, 20 Pa. 482; Schuylkill & Dauphin Improvement & Railroad Co. v. Schmoele et al., 57 Pa. 271; Lanigan, to use, v. Kille, 97 Pa. 120; Wilson v. Sale, 41 Pa. Superior Ct. 566; Sahm v. Long, 51 Pa. Superior Ct. 428; Einfeld v. Shermer, 56 Pa. Superior Ct. 4; Atherton v. Shurtleff et al., 10 Lack. Jur. 67. See, also, Trickett on Landlord and Tenant (2nd ed.) 66, Sec. 58. This implied covenant, however, may be breached only by the conduct of the lessor or those holding title paramount. So, the lessor is not liable to the tenant because an adjoining neighbor or trespasser interferes with the tenant’s quiet enjoyment of the demised premises: Dobbins v. Brown et al., 12 Pa. 75; Moore v. Weber, 71 Pa. 429; Barns

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Bluebook (online)
18 Pa. D. & C. 470, 1933 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 380, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shenkin-v-schermerhorn-pamunictphila-1933.