A recent Pennsylvania Superior Court decision affirmed a treble damages award to a residential tenant in the consolidated cases Nexus Real Estate v. Erickson and Erickson v. Cohen, No. 972 WDA 2016. The Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas awarded John Erickson $23,150 (plus escrowed funds) pursuant to the Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law (UTPCPL).
The court refers to owners Jason Cohen and JLB Retasa Shady LLC and property managers Nexus Real Estate LLC collectively as Nexus, a designation I will use for consistency with the opinion. The procedural history begins when Nexus sued Erickson in district court for unpaid rent. Erickson then sued Cohen, JLB Retasa Shady and Nexus Real Estate alleging breach of the implied warranty of habitability and violations of the UTPCPL. Erickson prevailed at the district court, compulsory arbitration and at common pleas court, where both actions were consolidated for a nonjury trial. The narrow issue on appeal was whether UTPCPL treble damage awards in landlord-tenant cases are reserved only for the most egregious cases of deceitful and illegal conduct. Nexus did not preserve issues pertaining to habitability.
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