Opinion ID: 2631128
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Unlawful Detainer Statute

Text: ¶ 36 Upon reviewing the relevant statutory language, we conclude that it was error for the trial court to apply the unlawful detainer statute to the redemption lawsuit and award treble damages under that statute. The express language of the unlawful detainer statute applies only to tenants for a term less than life, [50] and Shangri-La was never a tenant. Despite this obvious judicial error, Shangri-La nevertheless contends that Turner's malpractice was the cause of the adverse judgment. Specifically, Shangri-La argues that Turner was negligent in failing to contest the application of the unlawful detainer statute until supplementary briefing on the issue of treble damages. Shangri-La reasons that this failure allowed the trial court to proceed too far down the wrong road and that had Turner raised the argument earlier, the court would not have erred. ¶ 37 The record simply does not support Shangri-La's claim. It is true that, at one point during the trial of the underlying case, when answering a question about rents, Turner implied that the unlawful detainer statute might apply. But Turner cured any possible mistake when he specifically argued against application of the unlawful detainer statute in his supplementary brief. Further, nothing in the record suggests that the trial judge refused to consider Turner's objection to the application of the unlawful detainer statute because Turner did not raise it until supplementary briefing. In short, it is undisputed that Turner raised the operative arguments in his supplementary briefing and that the trial judge considered the supplementary briefing before issuing his final ruling in the underlying case. Accordingly, it was judicial error that necessitated Shangri-La's appealjudicial error that cannot be attributed to Turner's actions and that presumably would have been corrected on appeal had the underlying redemption action not been settled.