Hoopes

A commercial tenant, Eric Hoopes, sued his landlord and another tenant claiming exclusive parking rights under his lease. Defendants denied plaintiff’s interpretation of the lease, and also asserted that plaintiff was equitably estopped from suing because plaintiff stood silent for years when he knew defendants believed parking was shared between the tenants. Defendants moved to bifurcate the trial to have the equitable estoppel defense and other issues tried to the judge first, before a jury trial on plaintiff’s causes of action. Plaintiff opposed the motion. The court denied bifurcation and held a jury trial on plaintiff’s legal claims for breach of contract, trespass, and fraud without the judge first considering defendants’ equitable estoppel defense.

The jury found in plaintiff’s favor. But the judge, in ruling on the reserved equitable issues, entered judgment for defendants upon concluding that equitable estoppel applied. The trial court also ruled on the parties’ competing requests for declaratory and injunctive relief and, in doing so, rejected the jury’s factual findings and made its own independent evaluation of the evidence. Plaintiff appeals and challenges…