Sugar Hill, LLC v. United States

106 Fed. Cl. 314, 2012 U.S. Claims LEXIS 930, 2012 WL 3104878
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedAugust 1, 2012
DocketNo. 09-690C
StatusPublished

This text of 106 Fed. Cl. 314 (Sugar Hill, LLC v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sugar Hill, LLC v. United States, 106 Fed. Cl. 314, 2012 U.S. Claims LEXIS 930, 2012 WL 3104878 (uscfc 2012).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

WHEELER, Judge.

This ease concerns a lease between Plaintiff, Sugar Hill, LLC (“Sugar Hill”) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”) for mobile home trailer pads in Convent, Louisiana following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. Sugar Hill alleges that FEMA breached the lease agreement, and claims damages of approximately $3.6 million in repair costs and lost profits. The Court held a three-day trial in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on January 24-26, 2012. Thereafter, the Court received post-trial briefs, and heard closing argument in Washington, D.C. on June 11, 2012. For the reasons explained below, the Court concludes that Sugar Hill failed to show entitlement to any damages. The Court will dismiss the complaint and enter judgment for the Government.

[317]*317Background1

A. Sugar Hill, LLC and Convent Mobile Home Park

Sugar Hill is a limited liability company established on January 5, 2006 and organized under the laws of Louisiana. JSOF ¶ l.2 Sugar Hill has two members: (i) Mr. Mark Anderson and (ii) Sunrise Partners, LLC. Id. ¶ 4. Mr. Anderson is the majority shareholder and managing member. Anderson, Tr. 194.

Between January 5 and February 14, 2006, Sugar Hill purchased three adjoining, undeveloped parcels of land in Convent, Louisiana (St. James Parish), which Sugar Hill combined and named “Convent Mobile Home Park.” JSOF ¶¶ 2-3, 6; Anderson, Tr. 45-47. Sugar Hill specifically purchased the parcels comprising the park for lease to FEMA in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. See Lavkold, Tr. 555-56.

Sugar Hill purchased the three parcels at fair market value, for a total acquisition cost of $239,050. Id. at 558-59. Including land acquisition, Sugar Hill’s aggregate cost to develop the park was $1.5 million. McClellan, Tr. 649-51.

The park consists of 161 individual pads for mobile home trailers. See JX 8. Two private roads run through the park: Sugar Hill Street and Cut Cane Drive. See id. One row of pads runs along Cut Cane Drive, sequentially numbered 1-51. See id. Additional rows of pads run along either side of Sugar Hill Street. See id. The pads on one side are numbered 52-103, and the pads on the other side are numbered 104-159. See id. Pads 160-161 are located on Cut Cane Drive at its intersection with Sugar Hill Street. See id.

B. Provisions of Sugar Hill’s Lease Agreement With FEMA

FEMA is a component of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. JSOF ¶ 5. Sugar Hill leased all 161 pads at the park to FEMA on April 1, 2006, for sublease as mobile home pads to persons displaced by the two hurricanes. Id. ¶¶ 6-9. At the time Sugar Hill entered into the lease with FEMA, Mr. Anderson had no definitive plans for use of the park following the lease term. See Anderson, Tr. 51-52,156, 214-15.

Originally, the parties agreed that FEMA would rent 134 full-sized pads at $800/pad/ month, see JX 1 (unit pad lease of pads 1-2, 16-37, and 52-161), and 27 smaller “park model” or “RV” pads at $725/pad/month, see JX 2 (unit pad lease of pads 3-15 and 38-51). JSOF ¶¶ 6-7, 11. These rental prices amounted to almost double the prevailing market rate. See Lavkold, Tr. 566; Tatje, Tr. 658-59. The lease term originally ran from April 24, 2006 to April 23, 2007. JSOF ¶ 12; see also JX 3 (fixed price purchase order incorporating the two unit pad leases).

Under the lease, Sugar Hill agreed (i) “to provide and maintain all water, sanitary sewage, electrical, [and] other utilit[y] connections provided on the site at the time of execution;” and (ii) “to maintain the leased Pad[s] and premises in good repair.” JX 1, at ¶¶ 2, 7 (emphasis omitted); JX 2 (same).

For its part, FEMA agreed (i) “to keep said [l]eased Pad[s] and premises in a clean and orderly condition;” (ii) “to surrender the same [in] as good a state and condition as at the commencement of the term hereof, reasonable use, wear and tear thereof excepted;” and (iii) to “return the personal property and the premises in the condition existing at the [318]*318time of entry, reasonable use, wear and tear excepted.” JX 1, at ¶¶ 7-8; JX 2 (same).

C. Lease Activation

Prior to the commencement of the lease term, Sugar Hill installed subsurface main sewer and water trunk lines at the park, in addition to electrical lines to meter boxes serving the 161 individual pads. JSOF ¶ 15. Sugar Hill also installed a 50-amp electrical conduit along Cut Cane Drive to pads 1-51, which was sufficient to service only smaller RV pads. PPFOF ¶ 10.

Thereafter, FEMA contractors installed subsurface lateral sewer and water lines from the main trunk lines to the individual mobile homes, in addition to electrical conduits from the meter boxes to the individual mobile homes. JSOF ¶ 17. FEMA supplied, and its contractors installed, the physical mobile home units. Id. ¶ 16.

D. Lease Modifications and Deactivation

The parties modified the lease at various times between January 16, 2007 and January 8, 2008. See id. ¶¶ 13-14,18-23.

On January 16, 2007, the parties modified the lease, retroactive to the beginning of its term, for Sugar Hill to provide all 161 Lots as full-sized pads at the $800 monthly i’ental rate. Id. ¶ 14; see also Lease Modification, No. P00001. “FEMA took the expense of increasing the amperage” so that the 27 smaller pads could provide adequate electrical service to full-sized mobile homes. DX 4; see also PX 36; Anderson, Tr. 72-73.

On May 16, 2007, the parties extended the lease term by six months, for all 161 mobile home pads, to October 23, 2007. JSOF ¶ 18; see also Lease Modification, No. P00002. On September 24, 2007, the parties reduced the lease term for 22 mobile home pads to October 1, 2007, and extended the lease term for the remaining 139 mobile home pads by another six months to April 23, 2008. Id. ¶ 19; see also Lease Modification, No. P00003.

On November 27, 2007, FEMA notified Sugar Hill by letter that it would be terminating the lease of 39 mobile home pads effective December 1, 2007. Id. ¶ 21. On December 21, 2007, FEMA notified Sugar Hill by letter that it would be terminating the lease of another 19 mobile home pads effective January 1, 2008. Id. ¶ 22. On January 8, 2008, FEMA notified Sugar Hill that it would be terminating the lease of all remaining mobile home pads effective February 29, 2008. Id. ¶ 23.

FEMA contractors deactivated and physically removed the mobile home units from the park. Id. ¶ 26. The contractors left in-ground the subsurface lateral sewer and water lines, in addition to the electrical conduits from the meter boxes to the individual pads. Id. ¶ 27.

FEMA did not remove the last mobile home unit from the park until March 19, 2008. Id. ¶ 24. However, it paid additional rent for the February 29, 2008 to March 19, 2008 period. Id. In sum, FEMA paid Sugar Hill $2,800,160 in rent for the overall modified lease term of April 24, 2006 to March 19, 2008. Id. 125.

E.

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

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
106 Fed. Cl. 314, 2012 U.S. Claims LEXIS 930, 2012 WL 3104878, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sugar-hill-llc-v-united-states-uscfc-2012.