Milford Paintball, LLC v. Wampus Milford Associates, LLC
Milford Paintball, LLC v. Wampus Milford Associates, LLC
Opinion of the Court
Opinion
The defendant, Wampus Milford Associates, LLC, appeals from the judgment of the trial court, rendered after a trial to the court, in this commercial lease action. The defendant claims that the court erred in (1) finding that, by the defendant’s conduct, it impliedly waived notice requirements under the lease, (2) awarding damages to the plaintiff Milford Paintball, LLC,
The following facts, as found by the court in its post-trial memorandum of decision, are relevant to our resolution of the defendant’s claims. “On February 10, 2004, the plaintiff and the defendant entered into a lease agreement (lease) for a portion of a building owned by the defendant at 80 Wampus Lane, Milford, Connecticut (premises). On February 13, 2004, Kathleen Rorick, a member of the plaintiff and on its behalf, provided the defendant with a security deposit in the amount of $32,083.52. The premises were to be used by the plaintiff as an indoor paintball field. The execution of the lease followed extensive negotiations between the parties regarding the terms of the lease. Under the lease, each party had certain obligations to be performed before the plaintiff could take occupancy. The plaintiff was to apply for and obtain zoning approval. In addition, § 3.06 of the lease provided that the defendant would undertake extensive renovations to the premises, referred to as ‘landlord’s work.’ Such work was to be completed within ninety days of the plaintiffs receipt of zoning approval. In the event that the landlord’s work was not completed, the plaintiff was to provide the defendant with written notice of nonperformance and, upon receipt of such notice, the defendant was required to perform the work, or to commence performance and complete the landlord’s work within a reasonable amount of time. On April 23, 2004, the plaintiff sent the defendant a letter notifying the defendant that it had
On February 16, 2005, the plaintiff filed a four count complaint, alleging the defendant’s breach of the lease, fraud, restitution and violation of CUTPA. On May 31, 2005, the defendant filed a counterclaim, alleging the plaintiff’s breach of the lease. On July 28, 2005, the defendant filed an answer and special defenses, alleging that the plaintiff had failed to provide written notice of its default pursuant to the terms of the lease and that the plaintiff had anticipatorily breached the lease.
The matter proceeded to a trial before the court, and, on December 15, 2010, the court issued a posttrial
The court reserved decision on the issue of damages, ordering the parties to file supplemental briefs. On March 17, 2011, after the presentation of additional evidence and argument on the issue of damages, the court filed a second posttrial memorandum of decision. The court awarded the plaintiff compensatory damages in the amount of $34,987.52, plus prejudgment interest of $21,867.16, for a total compensatory award of $56,854.68. In addition, the court determined that the plaintiff was entitled to taxable costs and, pursuant to the terms of the lease and CUTPA, $73,217 in reasonable attorney’s fees. This appeal followed.
On appeal, the defendant raises three claims that relate to the alleged breach of the lease agreement. Specifically, the defendant claims that the court improperly (1) found that the defendant was equitably estopped from asserting its entitlement to written notice of default under the lease, (2) construed the terms of the lease when it found that the defendant’s failure to complete landlord’s work was a breach of the lease entitling the plaintiff to damages and (3) found
The defendant first claims that the court erroneously found that the defendant was equitably estopped, on the basis of telephone conversations its representatives had with Rorick, from asserting its entitlement to written notice of default under the lease. The defendant argues that “there is no credible testimony that statements were made on behalf of the defendant from which one could conclude that it waived the requirement in [§] 14.07 of the [l]ease that the plaintiff give written notice of non-performance of [l]andlord’s obligations
The court found that the defendant, by its conduct, “impliedly waived its contractual right to written notice of nonperformance . . . .”
Thus, we begin by setting forth the standard of review applicable to claims of equitable estoppel. “The party
“Strong public policies have long formed the basis of the doctrine of equitable estoppel. The office of an equitable estoppel is to show what equity and good conscience require, under the particular circumstances of the case, irrespective of what might otherwise be the legal rights of the parties. ... No one is ever estopped from asserting what would otherwise be his right, unless to allow its assertion would enable him to do a wrong. . . .
“There are two essential elements to an estoppel: the party [against whom it is asserted] must do or say something which is intended or calculated to induce another to believe in the existence of certain facts and to act upon that belief; and the other party, influenced thereby, must actually change his position or do something to his injury which he otherwise would not have done. Estoppel rests on the misleading conduct of one party to the prejudice of the other. In the absence of prejudice, estoppel does not exist.” (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Fischer v. Zollino, 303 Conn. 661, 667-68, 35 A.3d 270 (2012).
In determining that the defendant was estopped from asserting its entitlement to written notice of default
The record supports the court’s conclusion that Ror-ick and representatives of the defendant engaged in telephone conversations prior to the expiration of the ninety day period wherein the defendant indicated that performance of landlord’s work was forthcoming. The defendant’s statements, however, made prior to the expiration of the ninety day period merely reiterated the defendant’s obligations pursuant to the lease. Moreover, our review of the record does not support the court’s finding that the defendant indicated to Rorick subsequent to the expiration of the ninety day period that it would timely perform the landlord’s work, and we determine that such finding is clearly erroneous.
Even if we were to assume that the evidence presented was sufficient to infer that the defendant made affirmative representations to Rorick regarding performance after the expiration of the ninety day period, we, nonetheless, would conclude that application of equitable estoppel would be unwarranted in light of the plaintiffs admission that it intentionally decided not to provide the defendant with the written notice required pursuant to § 14.07 of the lease. “For estoppel to exist, there must be misleading conduct resulting in prejudice to the other party.” Palumbo v. Papadopoulos, 36 Conn. App. 799, 802, 653 A.2d 834 (1995). In this case, for estoppel to apply, the plaintiff would have to demonstrate that the defendant’s actions were misleading, causing the plaintiff to believe that it did not have to adhere to the notice provision of the lease. The record, however, does not support a finding that the defendant’s representations misled the plaintiff into believing that it was not required to provide written notice. Our review of the record has uncovered no statement that would allow us to infer that the defendant impliedly had waived the written notice provision of the lease and the plaintiff cites to no portion of the record supporting such inference.
Estoppel is an equitable doctrine and, as such, a court should consider the conduct of all interested parties. See Novella v. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co., 163 Conn. 552, 566, 316 A.2d 394 (1972) (“[a] party, to be entitled to the benefit of [estoppel] is himself bound to the exercise of good faith” [internal quotation marks omitted]). The record provides evidence that the plaintiff not only was aware that the defendant had failed to perform landlord’s work, but that the plaintiff made a conscious business decision not to provide written
“Q. Why is it that you did not send a, a notice of default under paragraph 14.07 of the lease after July 23, 2004?
“A. If we, we, let’s see, we discussed this. And first of all, I did not believe that the lease had really commenced because the landlord’s work was never completed. So it was my view that the lease never commenced. Over and above the fact that if we sent a notice of default and they cured it, and we opened at a time, much later time beyond September, the business would have failed.
“From a practical perspective, if we sent your client a notice of default and he cured it, and he took his time like he was aware of with [another tenant], what was dragging out over there for months and months and months and we weren’t getting anywhere for months and months and months. And then we sent them a notice of default. And then they didn’t, and then they cured it, and we opened long after September, we would have had a problem. The business would definitely have failed.”
On the basis of the foregoing, we determine that the court erred in finding that the defendant was estopped from asserting its special defense of an entitlement to written notice under the lease.
Although the defendant raises other claims of error, we decline to reach those issues. Where a substantive error permeates the court’s findings and underlies its judgment, reversal of the judgment and further proceedings may be required. See, e.g., Milford Paintball, LLC v. Wampus Milford Associates, LLC, 117 Conn. App. 86, 92, 978 A.2d 118 (2009) (remanding for new trial and declining to reach further claims on appeal where
The judgment is reversed and the case is remanded to the trial court with direction to render judgment in favor of the defendant on the second count of the plaintiffs complaint sounding in breach of contract, and for a new trial on the defendant’s counterclaim and
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
Kathleen Rorick was a party plaintiff in this action. On February 11, 2010, the defendant filed a motion to dismiss with respect to Rorick. On March 8, 2010, the court granted the motion to dismiss. We therefore refer in this opinion to MUford Paintball, LLC, as the plaintiff.
Although not raised by either party, we also note that the plaintiff failed to file a responsive pleading to the defendant’s special defenses. See Practice Book § 10-56, which provides: “The plaintiffs reply pleading to each of the defendant’s special defenses may admit some and deny others of the allegations of that defense, or by a general denial of that defense put the defendant upon proof of all the material facts alleged therein.” At this juncture, however, we need not determine the effect of such a failure on the issues in this appeal.
Section 14.07 of the lease provides: “Landlord Default. If Landlord fails to perform its obligations in the maimer prescribed under this Lease, Tenant shall give Landlord -written notice of such non-performance, and Landlord shall have thirty (30) days following its receipt of such notice to either (a) perform its obligations under this Lease, or (b) commence performance of such obligations, if such obligations are not reasonably capable of completion within such thirty (30) day period and to thereafter diligently pursue the same to completion in good faith and in a commercially reasonable manner. In the event Landlord fails to perform such obligations (or commence performance and thereafter diligently pursue, as applicable) within such thirty (30) day period, then Tenant shall be entitled to take reasonable actions on its own behalf to perform such Landlord obligations, and Tenant shall be entitled to reimbursement of all its actual and direct costs and expenses reasonably incurred in connection therewith, including its reasonable attorneys fees and expenses. In the event Landlord fails to pay Tenant for such costs within thirty (30) days of receipt of notice requesting reimbursement therefor, Tenant shall be entitled to set off such costs against its Rent payment obligations owing to Landlord.”
We note that neither equitable estoppel nor implied waiver expressly was pleaded in the plaintiffs complaint, nor raised as a special defense to the defendant’s counterclaim. Rather, the plaintiff argued before the trial court that the defendant had modified the terms of the contract through its conduct. The court, in its memorandum of decision, stated: “The plaintiff does not dispute that it did not provide the defendant with written notice of its nonperformance of the landlord’s work, but argues that the defendant’s conduct modified the lease, such that the plaintiff was relieved of its obligation to provide the defendant with written notice of nonperformance. The defendant has interpreted the plaintiffs argument as based upon a theory of waiver, and contends that the evidence does not support a finding by this court that it intentionally waived its right to written notice, as provided by § 14.07.” (Emphasis added.)
Contrary to the court’s determination, Rorick acknowledged that the plaintiff made a tactical business decision to refrain from providing written notice of default to the defendant.
When questioned with regard to communications and conversations with the defendant regarding the landlord’s work and the lease after the expiration of the ninety day period, Rorick testified: “I, for a short period of time after the deadline, I was still trying to see if I could get these people moving and to get the work done. And then from then on I basically let my sons take care of it.”
Korick’s son, Matthew Rorick, also testified regarding the reason the plaintiff did not give written notice of default to the defendant: “We had a discussion about it, a family meeting, and our time line was so short that we figured they can’t even get the work done in thirty days.”
Although not raised by the parties in their appellate briefs, our review of the lease revealed the presence of a nonwaiver clause. Specifically, we noted § 17.07 of the lease, which provides: “All waivers shall be in writing and signed by the waiving party. Either party’s failure to enforce any provision of this Lease or Landlord’s acceptance of Rent shall not be a waiver and shall
“Where the language of the contract is clear and unambiguous, the contract is to be given effect according to its terms.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Ahmadi v. Ahmadi, 294 Conn. 384, 390, 985 A.2d 319 (2009). Nonwaiver clauses in commercial agreements are enforceable, barring the application of waiver and estoppel defenses unless a party establishes the existence of unequal bargaining positions or “sharp dealing.” See Christensen v. Cutaia, supra, 211 Conn. 619-20; S.H.V.C., Inc. v. Roy, supra, 188 Conn. 507; see also Webster Bank v. Oakley, 265 Conn. 539, 549-51, 830 A.2d 139 (2003), cert. denied, 541 U.S. 903, 124 S. Ct. 1603, 158 L. Ed. 2d 244 (2004). The court’s memorandum of decision does not address the lease’s nonwaiver clause, and the court made no finding of unequal bargaining positions or sharp dealing or that the defendant relinquished its right to enforce the nonwaiver clause by waiving it in a signed writing. Therefore, under the facts presented in the record, we cannot determine that implied waiver or equitable estoppel would provide the plaintiff a means to avoid the nonwaiver provision of the lease.
In addition, we note that the court’s resolution of the plaintiffs CUTPA claim is predicated on its conclusion that the defendant was in breach of the lease agreement. Specifically, in noting the legal standard it was applying, the court stated: “A breach of contract does not constitute ‘a violation of CUTPA unless there are additional facts from which one can infer that the defendant’s conduct was also characterized by actions that were unethical, unscrupulous, wilful, or reckless.’ ” The court then determined that the defendant’s conduct, including the telephone calls that the court found occurred after the ninety day period for the work to begin, a finding we have determined to be clearly erroneous, amounted to more than a “mere breach of the lease agreement.” Furthermore, it is not clear that the court considered the CUTPA claim in light of the defendant's special defenses, including the special defense regarding the plaintiffs failure to provide written notice, which the court determined the defendant was estopped from asserting and which, as pleaded, applied to all counts of the plaintiffs complaint.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- MILFORD PAINTBALL, LLC v. WAMPUS MILFORD ASSOCIATES, LLC
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published