Supreme Court grants injunction to lawyer in eviction matter

The Supreme Court of P.E.I. has granted a motion by Charlottetown lawyer Dolores Crane for an interlocutory injunction restraining the company which owns the building housing her law practice from evicting her to undertake renovations to house other tenants.
Interlocutory injunctions are issued by the court to maintain the status quo between two parties prior to a final determination of a matter before the court.
Last July, Crane's landlord, Pharmtech, issued an eviction notice to her indicating they wished her out of the building by Nov. 22 because the premises were to be demolished.
Under the terms of a 10-year lease agreement signed between Crane and Pharmtech in December of 2008, the only ground for termination of the lease by Pharmtech was the demolition of the premises.
But Crane argued that the changes Pharmtech proposed to make to the building did not bona fide require the premises occupied by her business, Boardwalk Law Offices.
She argued as well that the eviction of her law practice from the building would cause her irreparable harm.
Amongst other things, Crane said the loss of her present office space would disrupt her business and her ability to serve her clients, damage her professional reputation and result in a loss of business.
Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Taylor agreed with Crane that she would suffer irreparable harm.
Taylor agreed with Crane on several points, including her contention that Pharmtech, owned by Paul Jenkins, had been unable to show a bona fide intention to demolish the premises.
He said that what Pharmtech proposed to do with the building could not be described as demolition, not as demolition is either commonly or legally understood.
Taylor referenced definitions for the word 'demolish' from Black's Law Dictionary, Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary and the Oxford English Dictionary, all of which supported his assertion on that point.
All used the word 'destroy' in their definitions.
Taylor said plans advanced by Pharmtech appear to show no structural changes to floors, ceilings, exterior walls or load-bearing walls.
"It is hard to imagine a demolition of an interior space within a building," Taylor wrote in his decision.
"It might be argued this is at most a reconfiguration of an existing space."
Pharmtech has argued it must make the changes it proposes to the Water Street building or it will lose the doctors working out of the building's medical clinic to another clinic.
The company asked Taylor to take judicial notice of a medical centre recently constructed in the Sherwood area which it said was ready to take on new doctors, including those from the Pharmtech site.
Taylor declined to do so, saying the facts advanced by Pharmtech on that point were unproven and the concept of judicial awareness is restricted to knowledge of things, concepts and events which are known to all and beyond dispute.
That is not the case here, he said.
Taylor said there are issues in this matter which should be decided at trial and has set aside court dates in April to hear the matter in full.
The injunction will remain in effect until the court issues its decision following that trial.
Taylor awarded costs to Crane in the amount of $2,000.