DocketNumber: Appeal 219
Judges: Trexler, Keller, Linn, G-Awthrop, Cunningham, Baldrige, Whitmore
Filed Date: 10/2/1930
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 11/13/2024
Argued October 2, 1930. This appeal is by defendant-landlord in replevin for a piano claimed by him as seized for rent in arrear, and taken from him by the sheriff in virtue of his *Page 287 writ, and delivered to the plaintiff. The case was tried by a judge without a jury; being of opinion that the landlord's "entry was wrongful" and, the distraint therefore illegal, he gave judgment for plaintiff. Appellee's brief agrees that the only question is the validity of the distraint.
Appellant had rented the third floor and two attic rooms of 916 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, to a tenant, who vacated the premises during the term, removing all property except a piano and piano stool. The piano and stool were owned by plaintiff who had let them to the tenant; plaintiff gave no notice exempting the piano from distress for rent pursuant to the Act of May 13, 1876, P.L. 171. The tenant defaulted on the bailment. The plaintiff sent its draymen to take back its property for the default; defendant declined to permit its removal, asserting a claim to hold it for the rent due by his tenant; this replevin followed immediately. The demised premises were locked by the tenant when he moved out. Defendant entered by a pass-key when he seized the piano. The court below thought that entry was wrongful under Ewald v. Fidelity Title Tr. Co.,
Appellee, who had no title to or right of possession in the leased premises, has no standing to complain that a landlord forced his way into his own property without a breach of the peace; there is no claim that the piano and stool were damaged by the character of the entry; the tenant is not objecting. Nor can it be said, since the tenant vacated and never returned during the balance of the term, that there was prima facie a violation of criminal code making forcible entry a misdemeanor.
We are required to reverse the judgment appealed from, and to remit the record with instructions to enter judgment for the defendant for the value of the piano and stool, which we understand by the record to be $477 (with interest) that sum appearing by the record to be less than the rent in arrear. *Page 289