Thomas, L. v. Ott, R.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMay 24, 2021
Docket712 WDA 2020
StatusUnpublished

This text of Thomas, L. v. Ott, R. (Thomas, L. v. Ott, R.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Thomas, L. v. Ott, R., (Pa. Ct. App. 2021).

Opinion

J-A06001-21

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

LISA THOMAS : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA Appellant : : : v. : : : RAYMOND G. OTT : No. 712 WDA 2020

Appeal from the Order Entered June 8, 2020 In the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County Civil Division at No(s): AR 18-04747

BEFORE: BENDER, P.J.E., LAZARUS, J., and McCAFFERY, J.

MEMORANDUM BY BENDER, P.J.E.: FILED: May 24, 2021

Appellant, Lisa Thomas (“Tenant”), appeals from the trial court’s June

8, 2020 order, granting Appellee’s, Raymond G. Ott (“Landlord”), motion for

summary judgment and dismissing all claims against him with prejudice. After

careful review, we reverse and remand.

On September 1, 2017, Tenant and her husband leased an apartment

at a property owned by Landlord located at 1098 Glenfield Road in Sewickley,

Pennsylvania. In the afternoon of February 14, 2018, Tenant slipped on an

accumulation of ice in the driveway area of the property and fell, sustaining a

severe ankle fracture, among other things. On December 14, 2018, Tenant

filed a complaint against Landlord, alleging, inter alia, that she slipped due to

Landlord’s “failure to clean the driveway[,] which allowed ice to build up over

a week.” Complaint, 12/14/18, at ¶ 5. Therein, she also averred that Landlord J-A06001-21

“owned and maintained” the 1098 Glenfield Road property, id. at ¶ 3, but

resided at 1105 Glenfield Road. Id. at ¶ 2.

On December 12, 2019, Landlord filed a motion for summary judgment,

setting forth two main arguments. First, Landlord asserted that the lease

includes an exculpatory clause, which bars Tenant from any recovery against

him. This exculpatory clause provides that: LESSOR shall not be subject to liability for any injury or damage to any person or to any property at any time on said PREMISES or building from any cause whatever [sic] that may at any time exist from the use or condition of said PREMISES or building or from ice thereon, or from water, rain or snow which may leak into, issue or flow from any pan of said building, or from the pipes or plumbing of the same, or as a result of mold or mildew being present in any parts of PREMISES, or from any other place or from any other cause, during said term or any renewal thereof.

See Landlord’s Motion for Summary Judgment, 12/12/19, Exhibit A (Lease)

at 2 (unnumbered pages). Second, Landlord contended that “the lease terms

designate snow and ice removal to [Tenant].” Id. at ¶ 5 (citing the lease

agreement generally). In support of this claim, Landlord set forth the

following: II. Under the terms of the lease, [Tenant], as the tenant, is responsible for snow and ice removal.

12. “The tort of liability of an owner of leased property for injuries suffered in falls occurring on leased premises is dependent upon whether the owner also occupies and controls a portion of the leased property, or has a contractual arrangement with the tenant addressing responsibility for the maintenance of the area where the fall occurred.” Mills v. Gubbio’s LLC, 50 Pa.D.& C.5th 520, 528 ([Lacka. Cty.] 2015).

13. Where the lease between the parties places the responsibility of sidewalk or property maintenance, cleaning, or snow/ice removal upon the tenant, the tenant has full and exclusive control

-2- J-A06001-21

of the leased premises. Miller v. Atl. Ref. Co., 12 Pa.D.& C.2d 713, 719 ([Phila. Cty.] 1957)[.]

14. In [Tenant’s] deposition, she also acknowledged that snow and ice removal was her responsibility. (Deposition Transcript: Pg. 15 10-18)[.]

15. In this matter, [Tenant] expressly consented to both the exculpatory clause in the lease and her responsibility for snow and ice removal.

16. The lease was in effect at the time of the alleged fall.

17. There is no evidence of record that show that [Landlord] breached any duty with respect to the condition of the premises as a matter of law.

18. As such, [Tenant] is barred from recovery and [s]ummary [j]udgment must be entered in favor of [Landlord].

Landlord’s Motion for Summary Judgment at ¶¶ 12-18 (emphasis in original).

Tenant subsequently filed a brief in opposition. In her brief, she

contended that there are genuine issues of material fact regarding the

enforceability of the exculpatory language in the lease. She argued that there

is no evidence that the exculpatory clause in question was expressly bargained

for by parties of equal bargaining power, and claimed that “the exculpatory

clause specifically states that the Lessor is not subject to liability for injury on

the PREMISES. Premises are defined as 1098 Glenfield Road, Apt. #1,

Sewickley, PA 15143. [Tenant’s] accident did not happen in Apartment #1.

Her accident occurred on [the] common area driveway which served other

apartments. The lease does not mention the driveway or common areas.”

-3- J-A06001-21

Tenant’s Brief in Opposition, 6/5/20, at 4.1 Further, she claimed that the lease

“specifically states that the lessee is responsible to keep all sidewalks free

from snow and ice. In her deposition, [Tenant] acknowledged the clause, but

contends in her deposition that she did not have any sidewalks, she only had

steps.” Id. at 5 (emphasis in original; citation omitted). 2 Finally, Tenant

advanced that the Sewickley Borough Code provides that owners of property

must always maintain sidewalks in a safe, unobstructed manner, and that a

landlord may not use a lease’s exculpatory clause to escape liability for the

violation of a statutorily-imposed duty. Id. (citation omitted).

The trial court held argument on Landlord’s motion for summary

judgment on June 8, 2020. Upon review, the trial court granted summary

judgment in favor of Landlord.3 Subsequently, on June 17, 2020, Tenant filed

a motion for reconsideration, which the trial court denied. Thereafter, Tenant

filed a timely notice of appeal on July 1, 2020, and timely complied with the

____________________________________________

1It is unclear how many apartments are at the 1098 Glenfield Road property. However, we glean from the record that there is more than one. Tenant’s attorney represented that there are at least four apartments at this property, and Landlord’s attorney characterized the property as “a residential apartment complex” and alluded to the driveway area being a “common area.” N.T., 6/8/20, at 2, 3; see also id. at 5.

2 The lease provides that “TENANT further agrees to keep all sidewalks free from snow and ice.” Lease at 2.

3 It is also unclear if discovery was completed at the time of the trial court’s ruling.

-4- J-A06001-21

trial court’s directive to file a Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b) concise statement of errors

complained of on appeal.4

The trial court then issued a Rule 1925(a) opinion. Initially, it provided

the following procedural history of the case: [Tenant] appealed this [c]ourt’s [o]rder of June 8, 2020, which dismissed her claims against her former [l]andlord…. This is a slip[-]and[-]fall claim that originated when [Tenant] suffered an injury on February 14, 2018. She allegedly slipped on an accumulation of ice in the driveway area of the leased premises located at 1098 Glenfield Road…. [Tenant] and her husband had leased the home several months earlier on September 1, 2017.

While the [c]omplaint alleged that [Landlord] resided elsewhere, but did own and maintain the leased premises, the [c]omplaint never identified [Tenant] as [Landlord’s] tenant. The [c]omplaint also fails to set forth a claim for negligence against [Landlord].

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