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Sweet v. Roy4/26/2002
cklessly and in wanton disregard of plaintiff's rights" and awarded $100,000 punitive damages against Leon, Marcien, and the trust. The jury was precluded from considering defendants' counterclaim for slander because it found for plaintiff on the illegal eviction claim.
After judgment on the verdict was entered, defendants moved for judgment as a matter of law or for a new trial pursuant to V.R.C.P. 50(b) and 59. Defendants argued that the jury's verdict finding Marcien acted recklessly and in wanton disregard of plaintiff's rights was at odds with its finding that Marcien did not "directly or indirectly" cause the interruption of utilities or otherwise use force or other self-help means to evict plaintiff. The court agreed with defendants on this issue and set aside the verdict against Marcien Roy for punitive damages.
Defendants also argued in their motion that the trust was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. The court denied this part of defendants' motion, ruling that as a matter of law Leon Roy was acting in the scope of his employment and for the benefit of the trust when he carried out the illegal eviction acts because "the only reasonable inference" from the evidence was that Leon Roy's actions were "related solely to his position as a mobile home park manager and the employee /beneficiary of the trust. His self-help eviction efforts directed at plaintiff could only have been motivated by the overall financial goals of the family and the family trust." The court then upheld the punitive damage award against the trust, again ruled that plaintiff was a resident of the park and entitled to the Act's protections, declined to order a new trial due to the prior bad acts testimony, and upheld the jury awards as "plainly within the jury's discretion, and not clearly excessive." The court also ruled that defendants were not entitled to a new trial because the court had excluded threats against defendants made by plaintiff's ex-boyfriend, and that defendants' slander claim failed because the jury verdict demonstrated that the statements alleged to have been made by plaintiff were true.
I.
On appeal, defendants reassert the same arguments made in their post-trial motion. We begin with the claims that one or more defendants should have prevailed as a matter of law. There are two such claims: (1) as a matter of law, plaintiff was not entitled to the protections of the Mobile Home Park Act; and (2) the Marcien and Mary Anne Roy Trust is not liable because plaintiff failed to state a claim against it.
A.
The first argument relates to plaintiff's complaint count that defendants violated the Act because they did not provide adequate and reliable utility services to her as required by 10 V.S.A. § 6262, the only count that went to the jury. After discussion among the parties and the court, this count was charged as an allegation that defendants attempted to evict plaintiff "by force or . . . other self-help means." Id. § 6237(a)(1). The provision prohibits such conduct by a park owner against a "mobile home resident." Id. § 6237(a); see also id. § 6237(d) (limiting applicability of § 6237 to mobile home park owners).
Defendants argue that plaintiff was not entitled to the protection of the prohibition on self-help eviction because she was not a resident. She was not a resident, they argue, because the prior owner failed to comply with § 6240(a) and provide defendants with the name of plaintiff as the prospective purchaser before the sale occurred so they could determine whether to accept her as a tenant.
The Act defines the term "mobile home park resident" as "an individual . . . who occupies a mobile home on a permane
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