Berg v. Wiley 264 N.W.2d 145 (1978)
Berg ran a restaurant in a building that he leased from Wiley. o The lease had a clause that Berg would not make any changes to the building's structure without written permission from Berg. o The lease also had a clause that the restaurant would be run in a lawful manner. o The lease also said that if Berg breached a clause of the lease, Wiley could retake possession of the building and evict Berg. Berg started to remodel the kitchen without getting written permission from Wiley. In addition, the restaurant failed a health inspection. Wiley and the health department gave Berg two weeks to clean the place up. After two weeks, Berg hung a sign in the window that said 'closed for remodeling'. Wiley changed the locks and barred Berg from entering the property. Berg sued for wrongful eviction. o Berg sued for lost profits, damage to chattels and emotional distress. o Wiley argued the affirmative defense of abandonment and countersued for damages to his property. The Trial Court found for Berg as a matter of law on the wrongful eviction claim and awarded $31k for lost profits and $3k for damage to chattels. Wiley appealed. The Appellate Court affirmed, o The Appellate Court found that Berg did not abandon the property. The Court felt that Berg was just closing to remodel, not going out of business. o The Appellate Court also found that Wiley's repossession of the property was wrongful. A landlord may use self-help to retake possession of a leased property as long as: The landlord is legally entitled to take possession.
Project Wonderful - Your ad here, right now, for as low as $0
o
The landlord does it peaceably. The Court found that Wiley did not take possession peaceably. The Court defined non-peaceable as anything that could possibly lead to a confrontation. They construed the law so narrowly that pretty much the only way a repossession could be peaceable was if the tenant had completely abandoned the property. Basically, the Court was saying that if there is a dispute with a lease, the landlord should not take the law into their own hands and lock out the tenant. They should go to court and get a court order to do so. "The only lawful means to dispossess a tenant who has not abandoned nor voluntarily surrendered but who claims possession adversely to a landlord's claim of breach of a written lease is by resort to the judicial process." In the past, landlords had to resort to doing it themselves (aka self-help) because the judicial process for kicking someone out (aka ejectment) was slow and cumbersome. But modern laws have attempted to make a summary proceeding to eject a deadbeat tenant relatively quick and straightforward.