Smith v. Anguiano

CourtCourt of Appeals of Kansas
DecidedMay 28, 2021
Docket122135
StatusUnpublished

This text of Smith v. Anguiano (Smith v. Anguiano) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smith v. Anguiano, (kanctapp 2021).

Opinion

NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

No. 122,135

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF KANSAS

BEN SMITH and KERRI SMITH, Appellants,

v.

IRMA ANGUIANO, d/b/a COPA CABANA CLUB, Appellee.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Appeal from Seward District Court, CLINT B. PETERSON, judge. Opinion filed May 28, 2021. Affirmed.

David W. West, of Law Office of David W. West, LLC, of Liberal, for appellants.

Derek W. Miller, of Miller & French, LLC, of Liberal, for appellee.

Before GARDNER, P.J., GREEN and BUSER, JJ.

PER CURIAM: In this breach of contract suit, landlords Ben and Kerri Smith sued tenant Irma Anguiano for property damage. A magistrate judge found that the tenant had breached the lease so he awarded the landlords their requested damages of $29,418.61. The tenant appealed to the district court judge, who reviewed the record and significantly lowered the amount of damages. The landlords now appeal to this court. Finding no error, we affirm.

1 Factual Background

Ben and Kerri Smith own commercial property that Ben has leased to interested business individuals for roughly 27 years. Irma Anguiano and Ben first entered into a lease agreement in 2009 for a two-year term. Included with the lease was a list of Ben's personal property items that Anguiano had permission to use to run her business. The Smiths and Anguiano entered a new lease every two years with no change in the lease's language. The parties did not update the inventory list and did not attach a copy of that list to their later agreements.

At the time of the initial agreement with Anguiano in 2009, the Smiths had previously rented the property to three other individuals who also used the listed personal property in their businesses. Some of the personal property and furniture on the inventory list was over 25 years old in 2009. Although the parties disagree on who terminated the rental lease, the record shows that the lease ended in November 2015.

In January 2018, the Smiths sued Anguiano for costs to repair and replace personal property and repair the real property. Magistrate Judge Thomas Kemp of the Seward County District Court, not licensed to practice law in Kansas, presided over the trial. The record shows considerable contradictory trial testimony by the parties. But it generally shows that the Smiths and Anguiano had an amicable professional relationship and had discussed the possibility of Anguiano buying the building from the Smiths. That never happened.

Anguiano testified that because she believed that she would one day purchase the property, she had removed and discarded some of its furniture that was old and unusable. But she had always asked the Smiths for prior approval. She presented evidence that much of the furniture was in poor condition when she started leasing the building, so she bought different furniture to replace it. Anguiano also testified that there were two

2 working air conditioners when she began leasing the building, but because the Smiths refused to replace one that did not work, she bought a new one to replace it.

The Smiths presented evidence of the 2013 lease and the 2009 inventory list. They alleged that Anguiano had impermissibly discarded furniture and other personal property from the building and gave the magistrate judge copies of pages from a catalogue showing the cost of new comparable items. Ben explained that he had bought the building 27 years earlier and had bought some of the property on the inventory list at that time. No evidence shows when Ben bought each item. He testified the building had three air conditioning units when Anguiano leased the building. But after one of the three air conditioning units failed, he told Anguiano he would not replace it, so she replaced it herself.

The magistrate judge held that Anguiano breached the lease agreement, and he awarded damages to the Smiths in the amount of $29,418.61. The magistrate judge calculated the damages based on the replacement cost of the personal property Anguiano had improperly taken from the building. Anguiano appealed the magistrate judge's decision to the district court.

The district court reviewed the trial transcript and the admitted evidence and then found:

(1) Anguiano breached the lease; (2) Section Six did not establish a measure of damages; (3) the air conditioning unit Anguiano took belonged to her; (4) the Smiths failed to prove damages for the missing or damaged property; but (5) the Smiths were entitled to keep Anguiano's $2,000 security deposit and a $2,500 insurance check for an unrelated flooding incident.

3 The Smiths timely appeal.

Procedural Background

Under K.S.A. 2020 Supp. 20-302b(c)(2), any appeal from a district magistrate judge who is not regularly admitted to practice law in Kansas will be tried and determined on the record by the district judge. In civil cases in which there was a record of the proceedings, the appeal is tried and determined on the record by a district judge de novo. K.S.A 2020 Supp. 20-302b(c)(2). Unlike a traditional appeal, the district court tries the case solely on the record made before the magistrate but, in doing so, may make findings of fact and conclusions of law independent of the magistrate's findings. Lamb v. Benton, No. 113,755, 2016 WL 562920, at *2 (Kan. App. 2016) (unpublished opinion). The district court did so here.

Standard of Review and Basic Legal Principles

The interpretation of a written instrument is a matter of law, so an appellate court exercises unlimited review. Trear v. Chamberlain, 308 Kan. 932, 936, 425 P.3d 297 (2018). The district court's interpretation of the lease does not bind this court, so we may independently construe the lease's meaning and legal effect. Wichita State Univ. Intercollegiate Athletic Ass'n v. Marrs, 29 Kan. App. 2d 282, 283, 28 P.3d 401 (2001).

When interpreting a written lease, we must determine the parties' intent. Peterson v. Ferrell, 302 Kan. 99, 104, 349 P.3d 1269 (2015). If the terms are unambiguous, we determine the parties' intent without applying rules of construction. 302 Kan. at 104. This means that when interpreting contracts, courts must construe unambiguous phrases in accordance with their plain, general, and common meanings. Hall v. JFW, Inc., 20 Kan. App. 2d 845, Syl. ¶ 3, 893 P.2d 837 (1995). We interpret the contractual provisions not by "'isolating one particular sentence or provision, but by construing and considering the

4 entire instrument from its four corners.'" Waste Connection of Kansas, Inc. v. Ritchie Corp., 296 Kan. 943, 963, 298 P.3d 250 (2013). And "'[t]he law favors reasonable interpretations,'" so results that defeat the contract's purpose and reduce it "'to an absurdity should be avoided.'" 296 Kan. at 963.

Did the District Court Apply the Correct Measure of Damages?

The parties do not dispute that they had a valid contract or that Anguiano breached it. The Smiths contend only that the district court erred by not awarding them a greater amount of damages.

The Smiths agree that the purpose of awarding damages is to make a party whole by restoring the party to the position the party was in before the injury.

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

Related

Ultimate Chemical Co. v. Surface Transportation International, Inc.
658 P.2d 1008 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1983)
Hall v. JFW, INC.
893 P.2d 837 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 1995)
THREE KINGS HOLDINGS, LLC v. Six
255 P.3d 1218 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 2011)
Wichita State University Intercollegiate Athletic Ass'n v. Marrs
28 P.3d 401 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 2001)
Belot v. Unified School District No. 497
4 P.3d 626 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 2000)
Unified School District No. 315 v. DeWerff
626 P.2d 1206 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 1981)
Stalcup v. Detrich
10 P.3d 3 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 2000)
Peterson v. Ferrell
349 P.3d 1269 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2015)
Trear v. Chamberlain
425 P.3d 297 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2018)
Waste Connections of Kansas, Inc. v. Ritchie Corp.
298 P.3d 250 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2013)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Smith v. Anguiano, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-anguiano-kanctapp-2021.