Jury trial waiver forfeited in scheduling order

Rental Agreement Indemnity Clause ‘Unconscionable’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: November 9, 2012
Tags: Judge Robert P. Doherty Jr., Landlord/Tenant, Roanoke County Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

A pre-drafted form rental agreement that required a tenant to indemnify the landlord for damages caused by the landlord’s negligence is a contract of adhesion and unenforceable under the Virginia Residential Landlord & Tenant Act, and a Roanoke County Circuit Court refuses to enforce the agreement against a tenant and his family whose property was [...]

Landlords, water companies resolve longstanding conflict

By Peter Vieth
Published: July 5, 2012
Tags: General Assembly, Landlord/Tenant

When a residential tenant skips town, the landlord usually can kiss goodbye the unpaid rent. But Virginia landlords had long objected to also covering the tenant’s unpaid utility bills. Public water companies could put a lien on a landlord’s property for a tenant’s unpaid bills. Landlords protested they should not be stuck for their tenant’s [...]

Blind Tenant Can Sue Landlord

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 16, 2012
Tags: Judge Melvin R. Hughes Jr., Landlord/Tenant, Richmond Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

In this case involving a tenant’s claims against her landlord, a management company, the landlord’s security company and another tenant for personal injuries plaintiff suffered when the other tenant’s vehicle allegedly struck plaintiff, who is blind, the Richmond Circuit Court says plaintiff’s only contract claim to survive demurrer is a contract claim against the landlord. [...]

Allergic tenant wins case over non-renewal

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 20, 2011
Tags: Federal Courts, Judge Gerald Bruce Lee, Landlord/Tenant

An Alexandria federal judge has awarded damages, including $100,000 in punitive damages, to a tenant in an Arlington high-rise whose lease was not renewed because of her persistent complaints about her allergies to smoke, mold and paint fumes. Plaintiffs Linda and Domenic Matarese sued Smith Property Holdings, the owner of Archstone Pentagon City in Arlington, [...]

Assignor Remains Liable on Commercial Lease

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 7, 2011
Tags: Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge Bruce D. White, Landlord/Tenant, Virginia Circuit Courts

Under the parties’ commercial lease, the assignment of the lease, in which the assignor agreed to remain jointly and severally liable on the lease, did not make the assignor a surety on the lease who could be released by a material modification of the lease, and the Fairfax Circuit Court says the assignors continued to [...]

Lease Not Terminated When Eviction Action Stopped

By Deborah Elkins
Published: June 7, 2011
Tags: Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge David Stanford Schell, Landlord/Tenant, Virginia Circuit Courts

A commercial lease was not terminated when the landlord suspended its 2009 action for possession of space leased and assigned by a tenant, but in any event, the tenant owed rent for the four-month period following the assignee’s post-default eviction before the premises were relet; a Fairfax Circuit Court enters judgment for the landlord. The [...]

No Summary Judgment on Eviction Notice

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 5, 2011
Tags: Judge Beverly W. Snukals, Landlord/Tenant, Richmond Circuit Court, Virginia Circuit Courts

In this unlawful detainer action by Richmond Redevelopment Housing Authority, the Richmond Circuit Court denies summary judgment to the tenant who argues the notice of eviction for criminal or drug-related activity was deficient. The court took the matter under advisement to review 24 C.F.R. §§ 95.4(l)(3)(i), (ii) and (v), as well as Va. Code § [...]

Restaurant Lease Guarantor Hangs on to His Win

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 29, 2011
Tags: Fairfax County Circuit Court, Judge Jane Marum Roush, Landlord/Tenant, Virginia Circuit Courts

A landlord can’t overturn a jury verdict for a guarantor of a restaurant lease with a claim of “jury nullification”; a Fairfax Circuit Court says the guarantor’s testimony that he received a verbal assurance that his guaranty was released when the restaurant changed hands in 2004 supported the view that the claimed damages were not [...]

Apartment Mold Claim Advances on Building Code Theory

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 25, 2011
Tags: Judge James R. Spencer, Landlord/Tenant, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A Richmond U.S. District Court says a couple who alleges damage from mold infestation can sue their landlord for negligence per se, on a theory the landlord violated Virginia’s Uniform Statewide Building Code. Shortly after Raymond and Shawnda Sanders moved into a two-bedroom apartment at Dominion Creekwood complex in Richmond, they began complaining to management [...]