Rutt Rental, LLC v. Atl. Coast Fire Trucks, LLC

• Decision Date: 23 November 2022
• Docket Number: Civil Action 5:21-CV-00129-KDB-DCK
• Parties: RUTT RENTAL, LLC, Plaintiff, v. ATLANTIC COAST FIRE TRUCKS, LLC, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of North Carolina

RUTT RENTAL, LLC, Plaintiff,
v.
ATLANTIC COAST FIRE TRUCKS, LLC, Defendant.

Civil Action No. 5:21-CV-00129-KDB-DCK

United States District Court, W.D. North Carolina, Statesville Division

November 23, 2022

ORDER

Kenneth D. Bell, United States District Judge.

THIS MATTER is before the Court on Plaintiff Rutt Rental LLC's (“Rutt” or “Landlord”) and Defendant Atlantic Coast Fire Truck LLC's (“Atlantic” or “Tenant”) cross motions for partial summary judgment in their commercial lease dispute. (Doc. Nos. 22, 23). The Court has carefully considered these motions and the parties' briefs and exhibits. For the reasons discussed below, the Court will grant in part and deny in part Rutt's motion and grant Atlantic's motion.

The jury not the Court must decide the disputed factual issues related to whether the alleged damages caused by Atlantic's repair of fire trucks at the leased property constituted “reasonable wear and tear,” considering both the lease's specific grant of permission for Tenant to only use the property as a “[e]quipment service and prep facility for fire trucks and other vehicles” as well as the Tenant's specific obligations to avoid damaging the property, including to “not use or keep any device which might overload the capacity of any floor.” Rutt's motion will also be denied as to Atlantic's “failure to mitigate” and “third party damages” defenses, which raise disputed factual issues related to the amount of damages. However, the lease's “integration clause” and “non-waiver”

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provision are fatal to Atlantic's unclean hands, waiver, ratification/consent and laches affirmative defenses, on which Rutt will be granted summary judgment.

With respect to Atlantic's motion for summary judgment on Rutt's claim for attorneys' fees, the Court agrees with Atlantic that the lease at issue is not “evidence of indebtedness” sufficient to provide a statutory basis for the award of attorney's fees under governing North Carolina law related to Rutt's claim for damages based on a failure to repair the property. In the absence of statutory authority for the award of attorney's fees, Atlantic is entitled to judgment on Rutt's claim for attorneys' fees.

I. LEGAL STANDARD

Summary judgment is appropriate “if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” United States v. 8.929 Acres of Land in Arlington Cnty., Virginia, 36 F.4th 240, 252 (4th Cir. 2022) (quoting Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a)); see United States, f/u/b Modern Mosaic, LTD v. Turner Construction Co., et al., 946 F.3d 201, 206 (4th Cir. 2019). A factual dispute is considered genuine “if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248 (1986); 8.929 Acres of Land, 36 F.4th at 252. “A fact is material if it might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law.” Id., (quoting Libertarian Party of Va. v. Judd, 718 F.3d 308, 313 (4th Cir. 2013)).

The party seeking summary judgment bears the initial burden of demonstrating the absence of a genuine issue of material fact through citations to the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, admissions, or affidavits in the record. See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323 (1986) (when the nonmoving party “has failed to make a sufficient showing on an essential element of [his] claim with respect to which [he] has the burden of proof,” summary judgment is

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warranted); United States ex rel. Gugenheim v. Meridian Senior Living, LLC, 36 F.4th 173, 178 (4th Cir. 2022). If the movant satisfies his initial burden to demonstrate “an absence of evidence to support the nonmoving party's case,” the burden shifts to the nonmovant to “present specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.” 8.929 Acres of Land, 36 F.4th at 252, quoting Humphreys & Partners Architects, L.P. v. Lessard Design, Inc., 790 F.3d 532, 540 (4th Cir. 2015). “The mere existence of some alleged factual dispute between the parties will not defeat an otherwise properly supported motion for summary judgment. Hixson v. Moran, 1 F.4th 297, 302 (4th Cir. 2021). Rather, the nonmoving party must establish that a material fact is genuinely disputed by, inter alia, “citing to particular parts of the materials of record” and cannot rely only on “conclusory allegations, mere speculation, the building of one inference upon another, or the mere existence of a scintilla of evidence.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c)(1)(A); 8.929 Acres of Land, 36 F.4th at 252, quoting Dash v. Mayweather, 731 F.3d 303, 311 (4th Cir. 2013).

Still, summary judgment is not intended to be a substitute for a trial of the facts. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 249. In determining if summary judgment is appropriate, “courts must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party and refrain from weigh[ing] the evidence or mak[ing] credibility determinations.” Variety Stores, Inc. v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 888 F.3d 651, 659 (4th Cir. 2018) (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting Lee v. Town of Seaboard, 863 F.3d 323, 327 (4th Cir. 2017). “Summary judgment cannot be granted merely because the court believes that the movant will prevail if the action is tried on the merits.” Jacobs v. N.C. Admin. Office of the Courts, 780 F.3d 562, 568-69 (4th Cir. 2015) (quoting 10A Charles Alan Wright & Arthur R. Miller et al., Federal Practice & Procedure § 2728 (3d ed.1998)). In the end, the relevant inquiry on summary judgment is “whether the evidence presents a sufficient

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disagreement to require submission to a jury or whether it is so one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of law.” Anderson, 477 U.S. at 251-52.

II. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Rutt is the owner of a commercial building located at 4718 Mountain Creek Avenue, Suite B, Denver, North Carolina (the “Property”). The Property, which has concrete driveways and floors, includes a commercial building with three garage doors and a workshop. Atlantic is in the business of repairing commercial diesel-fueled vehicles, including fire trucks...