Clements Real Estate, v. PetVet Care Centers (Pennsylvania), LLC

Clements Real Estate, v. PetVet Care Centers (Pennsylvania), LLC

Civil Action-Law-Americans with Disabilities Act Violation-Recovery of Damages by Landlord Against Tenant-Breach of Contract-Preliminary Objections-Legal Sufficiency

Clements Real Estate (“Plaintiff”) leased property to Petvet Care Centers (Pennsylvania), LLC, (“Defendant”) pursuant to a lease agreement.  A lawsuit was filed alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) including that the property did not have accessible parking spots, signage or an access aisle adjoining an accessible route.  Plaintiff filed a Complaint against Defendant seeking to recover damages relating to the ADA lawsuit involving the property.  Defendant has filed Preliminary Objections to Plaintiff’s Complaint on the basis that the Breach of Contract claim is legally insufficient because it fails to set forth a breach of a duty imposed by the contract.

1.   When testing the legal sufficiency of a challenged pleading, all material facts set forth in the pleading and all inferences reasonably deducible must be admitted as true.

2.   To set forth a cause of action in Breach of Contract, the complaint must allege the existence of a contract, including its essential terms, a breach of a duty imposed by the contract and resultant damages.

3.  The court must construe a contract as written and may not modify the plain meaning when the terms are clear. 

4.  When a term of a contract is ambiguous, the court may construe the term against the drafter of the document.

5.  A contract is not ambiguous merely because the parties do not agree on its construction. 

6.  Plaintiff failed to plead how the claimed ADA violations were due to Defendant’s particular use or occupancy or how the claimed violations were not requirements applicable to commercial buildings generally or that actions of Defendant created the claimed ADA violations. 

7.  Where Plaintiff failed properly to plead that Defendant had a contractual duty under the Lease Agreement to handle the claimed ADA violations, the Complaint is legally insufficient.   

L.C.C.C.P. No. 2023-01084, Opinion by Charles T. Jones, Jr., Judge, March 5, 2024.