WILMINGTON, Del. (Legal Newsline) – A Delaware Superior Court judge has ruled against Ptrebor Enterprises LLC in a breach of contract lawsuit stemming from a real estate transaction.
In his 27-page ruling issued Nov. 25, Judge Bradley V. Manning said that plaintiffs Christopher Crespo and Kristalena Marie Biafore “have established their claim for breach of contract by a preponderance of the evidence.” This included a contract between the parties involved for work to be done on a house, photographs and two estimates.
There was also the testimony from a licensed general contractor, a real estate agent for the plaintiffs, and a code enforcement officer.
The ruling states the plaintiffs entered into the sale agreement with Ptrebor in May 2017 to purchase a Wilmington property and that a large number of defects were discovered at an inspection. This was work that was to be completed on condition of the sale of a property to the plaintiffs. Ptrebor was sued by Crespo and Biafore over allegations that Ptrebor had not completed some repair work and some work that was completed was done in an unsatisfactory manner.
Manning noted that the defendant used, although did not mention specifically, the impossibility defense during closing arguments at trial. Under state law, this requires three things. First, “the occurrence of an event, the nonoccurence of which was a basic assumption of the contract, the continued performance is not commercially practicable, and the party claiming impracticability did not expressly agree to performance in spite of impracticability that would otherwise justify nonperformance,” the ruling states.
The judge said that he was “not persuaded” that Paul Wilson of Ptrebor could not have completed the work required and that Ptrebor “has failed to establish the elements of this defense.” He said that during the trial, the defendant acknowledged that "he is in the business of repairing and reselling houses."
"Based on his attitude and demeanor at trial, the more credible explanation is that Wilson was simply tired of dealing with the plaintiffs and did not want to be bothered with their demands any longer," Manning wrote.
In his ruling, Manning ordered Ptrebor to pay $3,020 to the plaintiffs, as well as court costs, attorney fees and interest.