429 Pa. 204 | Pa. | 1968
Opinion by
This is an appeal from the judgment of the Court of Common Pleas No. 6 of Philadelphia County on a verdict for the plaintiff in the amount of $9,317.91 plus interest resulting from a trial without a jury before Judge Uluman in an action of assumpsit.
On July 25, 1957, appellee, Swern & Co., entered into a written twenty-five year lease with appellant, Morrisville Shopping Center, Inc., for a store building owned by Morrisville. When appellee leased the store, it contained a central air-conditioning system which had been installed by appellant at the time the building was constructed in 1951. This system was part of the original plans and specifications for the building. In May, 1958, the air-conditioning system became
According to appellee’s expert air-conditioning engineer, to whose, testimony the trial judge attached great weight, the air-conditioning system had become partially inoperative because liquid refrigerant found its way into the compressor and caused serious internal damage. Such compressors are designed to operate only upon refrigerant in a gaseous state. This was not a malfunction of the compressor itself, but was caused by the installation circuitry of the piping connecting the major components of the system. The arrangement of the piping and components was faulty and created the conditions whereby liquid refrigerant would be returned to the compressors.
As a result of this defect, one compressor had to be replaced and a number of other changes allegedly had to be made to prevent a recurrence of the return of liquid refrigerant to the compressors. These other changes gave rise to the second main issue in this case ---whether, assuming the duty of the landlord to repair, all of the expenditures labeled repairs by the appellee were really repairs or were improvements. Certain improvements; were admittedly within the figure of $11,809 plus interest originally sued for, but appellee then limited its requested relief to the $9,317.91 plus interest which it claimed was the actual cost of making the air-conditioning system operative. Judg
, The .first issue is who is responsible for the cost of repairs to this air-conditioning system. In the first place, the irrelevancy should be pointed out in appellant’s argument that since the lessor was not obligated to furnish air-conditioning, it was thus not obligated to keep the system in repair. Appellee concedes that appellant has no duty to furnish air-conditioning, e.g., water, etc., but insists that there is a duty to keep the air-conditioning system in repair. Appellee quite properly bases its argument on the terms of the lease, a number of which are relevant to this point. Several discuss the obligations of the lessor: “14. Lessor agrees to make all structural repairs other than those herein required to be made by Lessee. ... 15. All repairs on or about said building, except such as the Lessee has expressly assumed . . . shall be made by the Lessor at its.own cost and expense. ... 27. Lessor shall not be liable for any property damage sustained by Lessee or other occupants of the demised premises, caused by the defective condition of the demised premises, . . ., pipes, conduits and other appurtenances, or for any other ommissions, [sic] or passive acts of negligence. However, if any such condition, defect, or ommission [sic] shall exist, and Lessor shall fail, if obligated to do so, to cause said condition, defect or omission to be corrected or remedied within ten (10) days after written notice thereof from Lessee or within such other time as shall be required to correct or remedy the same, with the exercise of reasonable diligence, Lessee shall have the right to correct or remedy the condition, defect, or omission, deducting the cost thereof from the next rent installment.”
As to the obligations of the lessee, Paragraph 15 of the lease says the following: “Lessee shall at all times,
From these paragraphs, it is clear that the lessor, in general, has the responsibility of paying for the costs of repairs of a structural nature. And any repairs necessitated by the faulty construction of the building would fall within this category. The air-conditioning system was built into the building when it was constructed in 1951. Appellee’s expert testified that the breakdown of the compressor was caused “by the installation circuitry of the piping connecting and interconnecting the major components of the system.” The fault, he said, lay in both “the manner in which it had been installed, and the arrangement in which it had been installed.” Appellant would have us distinguish between faulty “design” and faulty “construction”. Even by appellant’s view, there was evidence— “the manner in which it had been installed”—from which the trial judge could find that the actual installation was improper. In any case, a far more reasonable interpretation of “faulty construction” or “structural defect” would include faulty design. The defect inheres in the structure, and results from the construction, whether it originated in the architect’s blueprint or the builder’s failure to follow that blueprint.
Once it is determined that the lessor is responsible for the cost of repairs, the question becomes the extent embraced by the word “repairs”. Appellant urges that
Judgment affirmed
There is no question that the jurisdictional amount of $10,-000 has been met. Interest due at the time of trial is properly considered in reaching the jurisdictional amount. Cara v. Newark Fire Ins. Co., 309 Pa. 71, 163 A. 289 (1932).