Brugger v. Fonoti
| Decision Date | 31 March 1982 |
| Docket Number | No. 17281,17281 |
| Citation | 645 P.2d 647 |
| Parties | Joseph BRUGGER, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Valapa M. FONOTI and Barbara Fonoti, Defendants and Appellants. |
| Court | Utah Supreme Court |
Richard Richards, Ogden, for defendants and appellants.
LaVar E. Stark, Ogden, for plaintiff and respondent.
This action was brought by Joseph Brugger to recover amounts due from the defendants, Valapa and Barbara Fonoti, under a lease agreement. The trial judge, sitting without a jury, found in favor of the plaintiff and awarded him damages in the amount of $18,141.00. Defendants appeal.
On June 10, 1978, the defendants rented the ground floor of a building in Ogden, Utah, to establish and operate a restaurant. On October 16, 1978, they negotiated a ten year lease with the owners of the property, Darrell and Cleo Iverson. In November 1978, the Iversons rented the space below the defendants to persons operating a disco. The defendants thereafter complained to the Iversons that the loud disco music was interfering with their business, as well as attracting undesirable people who would loiter in common hallways. Defendants also complained that there was a sewer problem and a hole in a wall.
The plaintiff, Joseph Brugger, purchased the rental property from the Iversons on January 5, 1979, subject to and together with the Fonoti lease and the leases of six other occupying tenants. Thereafter, the defendants complained to the plaintiff about the same problems that had previously existed. He corrected the sewer problem and arranged to have the noise from the disco reduced. Plaintiff also hired a security guard on a limited basis to patrol the area of the restaurant. No leak in the roof or hole in the wall was ever found.
Sometime in August 1979, the exhaust fan in the kitchen of the restaurant broke causing smoke to fill the building. Plaintiff replaced the fan as soon as was possible but the restaurant had to be closed over a weekend. On August 14, 1979, the defendants quit the premises claiming that the problems mentioned above had proved fatal to their business. They were then behind in their rent and had not paid the utility bills since April. Plaintiff thereafter relet the premises to new tenants at the same rent.
In response to plaintiff's action for breach of lease and damages, defendants claim that they were constructively evicted from the premises as a result of the disco noise, lack of maintenance and associated problems. The trial court judge found against the defendants.
Defendants urge us to overturn the findings of the trial judge contending that the facts as presented at the trial mandate a finding of constructive eviction. Constructive eviction occurs where a tenant's right of possession and enjoyment of the leased premises is interfered with by the landlord, or persons under his control, as to render the premises, or a...
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...of the obligation to pay rent. Thirteenth & Washington Sts. Corp. v. Neslen, 123 Utah 70, 254 P.2d 847 (1953); see also Brugger v. Fonoti, 645 P.2d 647 (Utah 1982). To establish a constructive eviction, however, the lessee had to vacate the entire leasehold, and only then could the lessee w......
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Reid v. Mutual of Omaha Ins. Co.
...render the premises unsuitable for their intended use, as is required for a claim of constructive eviction. See, e.g., Brugger v. Fonoti, 645 P.2d 647, 648 (Utah 1982); see generally Backman, Landlord-Tenant Law: A Perspective on Reform in Utah, 1981 Utah L.Rev. 727, 740 [hereinafter Backma......
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P.H. Inv. v. Oliver
...Corp., 428 F.2d 1071, 1075 (D.C.Cir.1970); R. Cunningham, W. Stoebuck & D. Whitman, The Law of Property 265-66 (1984).4 Brugger v. Fonoti, 645 P.2d 647, 648 (Utah 1982); Thirteenth & Washington Streets Corporation v. Neslen, 123 Utah 70, 254 P.2d 847 (1953).5 Our holding is based on conside......