80 Pa. Super. 447 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1923
Opinion by
Louis Pfaeffle was a tenant in possession of certain hotel property at Eossmere, Manheim Township, Lancaster County. J. W. Fehl, the plaintiff, was his landlord. On July 6, 1918, the plaintiff obtained judgment of eviction against the defendant before an alderman and on August 16, 1918, the defendant was ousted. From this judgment the defendant appealed to the court of common pleas and the jury rendered a verdict in his favor for $77. He has appealed from this, his complaint being that the court erred in not admitting certain testimony offered to show what his profits were from the date he was ejected, August 16, 1918, to the time when his right of possession ceased, April 1,1919. There is no doubt when a tenant is evicted unlawfully that he is entitled to recover the damages which he suffered by reason of not' having had the opportunity to make the profits which he could have made, had he been allowed to remain on the premises. In other words he should be put in the same position primarily as if the contract of lease had been kept. The question before us is whether the proof offered by the defendant was properly excluded by the learned trial judge. In the case of Wilson v. Wernwag, 217 Pa. 82, in an exhaustive opinion Judge Mestrezat reviewed the former cases, and in summing up, states that “the law does not require absolute certainty as to the data upon which profits are to be esti
The second and third assignments of error are sustained. The judgment is reversed with a venire.