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Home My WebLink About03-580 EquityWILLIAM CHRISTINE, PLAINTIFF IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA DEER RUN APPALACHIAN CAMPGROUND, LLC, HARRY T. EDMUNDSON, TIMOTHY SCOTT McDONALD, JEFFREY L. PETTIT, NORMAN B. SLATER, JR., ERNEST E. MIZE, DEFENDANTS 03-0580 EQUITY TERM IN RE: PETITION FOR A SPECIAL INJUNCTION OPINION AND ORDER OF COURT Bayley, J., February 13, 2003:-- Since 2000, plaintiff, William Christine, has lived in his moveable residence located on Lot 7 of the land of defendant, Deer Run Appalachian Campground, LLC.1 On January 24, 2003, defendant, Deer Run Appalachian Campground, LLC, evicted plaintiff by self-help.: On February 7, 2003, plaintiff filed a complaint in equity against the above named defendants. Ancillary to the complaint, plaintiff filed a motion for a special injunction to enjoin defendants 1 Plaintiff maintains that his moveable residence is a mobile home while defendant maintains it is a recreational vehicle. It is a distinction without a difference for the purposes of the resolution of this dispute. : Plaintiff's mobile residence, and most of his personal property, remains on Lot 7. A representative of defendant has told plaintiff that he can remove his mobile residence, along with his personal property, only in the presence of a constable at a time and date set by the parties. 01-1000 CRIMINAL TERM from interfering with his residency on Lot No. 7 without legal process? A hearing was conducted on February 11, 2003. We find that plaintiff was a tenant on the land of defendant, Deer Run Appalachian Campground, LLC.4 We find that plaintiff and the corporation, through its authorized representatives, entered into an oral lease that the rent for Lot 7 on which plaintiff placed his moveable residence was his personal services as the manager of the campground. The term of that tenancy was for the period during which plaintiff was manager. Defendant has now terminated plaintiff as manager. Notwithstanding that the term of plaintiff's tenancy has ended, see 68 P.S. Section 250.501(a), plaintiff is entitled to the legal process afforded a tenant under the Landlord Tenant Act of 1951, before he can be evicted? O'Brien v. Jacob Engle Foundation, Inc., 47 D. & C.3d (Cumberland County 1987). Based upon the parties' oral lease for the tenancy of Lot 7, on which plaintiff lived for over two years, we reject defendant's argument that plaintiff, who was its employee, was simply a camper at its facility whose rights are no greater than a customer who pays defendant to camp there? A preliminary injunction may be granted if plaintiff establishes that: (1) relief is 3 The individual defendants are owners and/or persons associated with Deer Run Appalachian Campground, LLC. 4 The campground not a mobile home park, thus plaintiff is not a tenant of a mobile home park as that term is defined in the Mobile Home Park Rights Act at 68 P.S. Section 398.2. ~ 68 P.S. § 250.101 et seq. Providing space to campers is the nature of the business of the campground. -2- 01-1000 CRIMINAL TERM necessary to prevent an immediate and irreparable harm which cannot be compensated by damages; (2) greater injury will occur from refusing an injunction than from granting it; (3) an injunction will restore the parties to the status quo as it existed immediately before the alleged wrongful conduct; (4) the alleged wrong is manifest, and an injunction is reasonably suited to abate it; and (5) plaintiff's right to relief is clear. P.W. Phillips Gas and Oil Co. v. Peoples Natural Gas Co., 89 Pa. Commw. 377 (1985). Plaintiff meets these criteria. In O'Brien v. Jacob Engle Foundation, Inc., supra, we recognized, as a matter of public policy, that the criteria for the issuance of a preliminary injunction are met when a landlord utilizes unlawful means to effectuate an eviction.7 Accordingly the following order is entered.8 ORDER OF COURT AND NOW, this day of February, 2003, IT IS ORDERED: (1) Defendant, Deer Run Appalachian Campground, LLC, IS ENJOINED AND PROHIBITED, without legal process, from interfering with plaintiff, William Christine, living in his moveable residence on Lot No. 7 where it has been located on the grounds of Deer Run Appalachian Campground, LLC. (2) Pursuant to Pa. Rule of Civil Procedure 1531(b)(2), this preliminary injunction shall 7 It is Deer Run Appalachian Campground, LLC, through its representatives, that exercised self-help in wrongfully evicting plaintiff, not the individual defendants who are associated with the corporation. Thus, no injunction will be entered against the individual defendants. 8 This resolution makes it unnecessary to address any position of plaintiff that he may also have a right to continue to live on Lot 7 by virtue of his being one of the owners of Deer Run Appalachian Campground, LLC. -3- 01-1000 CRIMINAL TERM take effect upon plaintiff depositing $1.00 with the Cumberland County Prothonotary upon the same conditions as would be provided for in an injunction bond. (3) The motion for a preliminary injunction against defendants, Harry T. Edmundson, Timothy Scott McDonald, Jeffrey L. Pettit, Norman B. Slater, Jr., and Ernest E. Mize, IS DENIED. -4- 01-1000 CRIMINAL TERM By the Court, Edgar B. Bayley, J. Robert M. Walker, Esquire For Plaintiff Jeffrey L. Pettit, Esquire Suite 1600 The North American Building 121 South Broad Street Philadelphia, PA 19107 For Defendants Deer Run Appalachian Campground, LLC and Jeffrey L. Pettit Harry L. Edmundson, Pro se 937 Price Street Traine, PA Timothy Scott McDonald, Pro se R.D. #4, Box 326 Martinsburg, VVV 25401 Norman B. Slater, Jr., Pro se 1531 Stone Mill Drive Elizabethtown, PA 17022 Ernest E. Mize, Pro se 543 Hamilton Road Cochranville, PA 19330 :sal -5-