Rafferty v. Martin

Citations

• 253 Pa. 143
• 97 A. 1037
• 1916 Pa. LEXIS 801

Syllabus

<p>0ontracts — Suretyship—Leases — Breach hy tenant — Affidavit of defense — Insufficient averments.</p> <p>Iu an action against the sureties on a lease plaintiff averred that the tenant had failed to pay the rent and had left the premises ; that thereafter in pursuance of an agreement between plaintiff and defendant plaintiff had re-leased the building for part of the term so as to reduce the loss of rent and applied the amount so received as credits upon the -rent; and further alleged a failure to restore the premises at the end of the term to the condition in which they were when received, the tenant haying extensively altered same. The affidavit of defense denied that plaintiff had made every effort to obtain a tenant, averred that no demand was made upon the defendant to restore the building to its original condition and that plaintiff did not himself restore it to such condition, but did not deny that the amount álleged by plaintiff to be necessary to put it in such condition was reasonable; and further averred that the obligation of suretyship was ■ released by reason of the fact that plaintiffs demanded and received additional rent in the form of increased insurance premiums without the knowledge of the defendant, and further that the municipality had changed the grade of the street upon which the property stood, thus causing the loss of rent; that plaintiff had done great damage to tbe building in raising it to conform to tbe new grade so that it became untenable, and bad permitted extensive alterations to tbe building without defendant’s knowledge. Tbe lease contained no covenants as to tbe payment of insurance premiums, and it did not appear that the change in grade of tbe street was in any way attributable to plaintiff. Tbe lower court entered judgment for plaintiff for want of a sufficient affidavit of defense. Heldj no error.</p>