R. A. Beaufort & Sons, Inc. v. Trivisonno

• Decision Date: 11 July 1979
• Docket Number: No. 76-240-A,76-240-A
• Citation: 121 R.I. 835,403 A.2d 664
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court
• Parties: R. A. BEAUFORT & SONS, INC. v. Frank J. TRIVISONNO et ux. ppeal.

Page 664

403 A.2d 664

121 R.I. 835

R. A. BEAUFORT & SONS, INC. v. Frank J. TRIVISONNO et ux.

No. 76-240-Appeal.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

July 11, 1979.

[121 R.I. 844] Thomas A. Lynch, Warwick, for R.A. Beaufort & Sons, Inc.

Alfred Thibodeau, Providence, for defendants.

OPINION

KELLEHER, Justice.

On March 8, 1975, the parties to this appeal signed two documents. One was a lease, and the other was a real estate sales agreement. Shortly thereafter they found themselves immersed in litigation. Since the execution of those documents, the litigants have been to the District Court, the Superior Court, and finally this court. The issues that we are asked to resolve are relatively simple, but the litigious trail of the claims and counterclaims which we are about to map has become a bit complex. The plaintiff-appellant is R. A. Beaufort & Sons, Inc. The defendants are Frank J. Trivisonno and his wife, Patricia. Hereinafter we shall refer to the plaintiff-appellant as the landlord and the defendants as the tenants.

The landlord is a building contractor who in 1975 was building and selling homes in Warwick in a development called Buttonwoods Estates. The lease and sales agreement concerned a new home which was situated at 70 Larson Drive. The 1-year lease called for a total annual rental of $3,300 payable in monthly installments of $275. Under the terms of the lease, the tenants were to take possession on March 10, after making a preoccupancy payment of $1,000, which consisted of the rent for the first and the last months of the lease, plus an additional $450 "security deposit." The sales agreement called for a $1,000 deposit on a selling price of $36,900 with the tenants to take title sometime within the ensuing year. This agreement was signed by the tenants and by a "Raymond R. Beaufort." Sometime after the sales agreement was signed, the words "R. A. Beaufort & Sons, Inc. (Vice President)" were added to Raymond's signature.

Near the end of the month of April 1975, the landlord initiated a trespass and ejectment proceeding in the District Court against the tenants. The action was brought pursuant to the terms of G.L. 1956 (1969 Reenactment) § 34-18-9, as amended by P.L. 1974, ch. 11, § 1. In its complaint the landlord alleged that the tenants "are more than 15 days in arrears of the stipulated rental." On May 13 a default judgment was entered in the District Court for the landlord for the possession of the premises and $550, representing all the rent then due, an attorney's fee of $125, and costs. The next day the tenants filed a motion to vacate and an answer in which they denied that there was any arrearage. After a hearing, the motion to vacate was granted. On May 30 trial was held, and judgment was entered which was similar in all respects but one to the previous judgment. The trial justice refused to award an attorney's fee. No appeal was taken from this action.

On July 9, 1975, the landlord instituted a second District Court suit, in which it alleged that the tenants had breached the lease and thereby became liable for an attorney's fee of $840. The tenants denied these allegations and counterclaimed for the balance of $2,000 in deposits paid to the landlord, giving it credit for the $550 judgment entered in the trespass and ejectment action. Later, in November, the landlord was permitted to amend its complaint so that it could seek not only the fee but also damages because of its alleged inability either to lease or to sell the property.

The tenants responded to the June suit by filing a suit in the District Court against Raymond R. Beaufort. They sought the return of the deposits on the theory that the two documents actually amounted to a lease containing an option to buy which could not be exercised because Raymond never owned the property and thus could not convey title. The tenants also sought compensatory and punitive damages and an attorney's fee. Raymond denied the allegations.

The District Court actions were consolidated for trial, and thereafter a stipulation was entered agreeing that judgments would be entered in each action for the landlord and for Raymond, respectively, with appeals being taken by the tenants to the Superior Court where, of course, there would be a de novo hearing.

While the appeals were pending, the tenants filed a petition in the Superior Court seeking to enjoin the sheriff of Kent County from proceeding with a sheriff's sale which was to be held pursuant to an execution that had been issued against their real estate relative to the monetary portion of the unappealed judgment. The petition revealed that after the tenants had departed from Buttonwoods Estates, they purchased a home in another section of Warwick. In the Superior Court the two appeals and the petition to enjoin the sheriff were consolidated for trial, and a hearing was held before a justice of the Superior Court sitting without a jury.

At the trial, testimony was presented by Raymond R. Beaufort and by Patricia Trivisonno. Among the exhibits presented were the lease and the sales agreement. The lease is a printed form which was prepared by the landlord's trade association. It states that the rent is to be paid in advance on the first day of each month "at our main office or such other place designated by us."

Earlier, we noted the preoccupancy payment of $1,000. The form lists the components of this payment as being the "Security Deposit," "One Full Month's Rent," and the "Balance of First Month's Rent (pro-rate)." Whoever filled in the form struck out any reference to prorating the first month's rent, and thus a full first month's rent was paid by the tenants. Patricia testified that she was not sure when April's rent was due because the first month's rent covered a period ending on April 9. Raymond acknowledged that Patricia and her spouse were not bound by the first-of-the-month proviso and said that April's rent was due on the tenth day of the month. Patricia insisted that after talking to the landlord's agent, she had mailed the April rent to Raymond at his residence. According to Patricia, the rent was in the form of a postal money order and was mailed on April 15. Two weeks later the letter was supposedly returned to her by postal authorities for lack of a proper address. Raymond took strong issue with Patricia's testimony concerning the mailing, but he did acknowledge that Patricia had come to his home and tendered the rent. The tender, he said, took place in May, but he refused it on the basis of the pending suit. The premises were vacated in mid-June, and the tenants moved to another home, which they had purchased with the financial help of a relative.

Raymond reported that sometime in early or mid-November the landlord had leased the Larson Drive residence. The amounts of the deposit for the sales agreement and the preoccupancy payment were either identical to or greater than those made by the former tenant. In fact, there was testimony indicating that the new tenants had agreed to purchase the property for $36,900.

In his decision the trial justice ruled ¹ that (1) the tenants had not breached the rental provisions of the lease; (2) the landlord was not entitled to a fee for its attorney; (3) the tenants were entitled to a return of the $1,000 deposit paid on the sales agreement; and (4) the landlord's "unreasonable" conduct barred its claim for a loss of rentals. However, the trial justice did observe that the landlord was entitled to be...