Landlord/Tenant

Mar 20, 2014

Deck broke away from apartment, injuring family – $2,300,000 Settlement

On May 25, 2012, a mother and her children were having a cookout at her son’s second floor apartment. All five of her children were on the back deck. When the mother stepped out onto the deck to join them, the deck broke away from the apartment and fell out from under them. All six […]

Mar 19, 2014

Family injured in deck collapse settles for $2.3M

A family of six people that plummeted to the ground when an apartment deck collapsed during a cookout has settled claims against the owner and property manager for $2.3 million, the family’s lawyers reported. The 2012 accident broke the backs of a mother and two of her sons and caused injury and emotional trauma for other […]

Nov 9, 2012

Rental Agreement Indemnity Clause ‘Unconscionable’

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 […]

Jul 5, 2012

Landlords, water companies resolve longstanding conflict

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 […]

May 16, 2012

Blind Tenant Can Sue Landlord

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. […]

Feb 29, 2012

Appeals court upholds punitives against landlord

Yesterday a federal appeals court upheld a $100,000 punitive damage award for 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, management […]

Jun 20, 2011

Allergic tenant wins case over non-renewal

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, […]

Jun 7, 2011

Assignor Remains Liable on Commercial Lease

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 […]

Jun 7, 2011

Lease Not Terminated When Eviction Action Stopped

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 […]

Apr 5, 2011

No Summary Judgment on Eviction Notice

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 § […]

Mar 29, 2011

Restaurant Lease Guarantor Hangs on to His Win

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 […]

Jan 25, 2011

Apartment Mold Claim Advances on Building Code Theory

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 […]