Court Opinion

ID: 9534530
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:40:38.1927+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:30:56.207814
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion by
Mr. Justice Roberts:
Typewritten onto the printed lease between the lessor and lessee in this case was the following language: “[The lessor] shall not be responsible and [the lessee] agrees, for any damages occurring to the property of [lessee].” I fail to understand how any construction, no matter how strict, can hold these clear words not to encompass any damage resulting to the lessee’s property on the premises from the landlord’s negligence. The fact that the quoted language speaks only of damage and contains absolutely no reference to the factors causing the damage, to my mind, precludes us from construing these words not to apply to damage caused by negligence of the lessor antecedent to the signing of the lease. Were we here dealing with a contract of adhesion, it might well be that we should hold this exculpatory portion of the lease to be of no effect. In that event, however, we would not be construing the provision, we would simply be holding it invalid.*
That we are not confronted by a contract of adhesion is, I believe, amply supported by the opinion of the majority itself. Both lessor and lessee were business entities and the typwriting of the exculpatory provision appears to demonstrate that it was or should have been brought to the attention of the lessee and that hence, in contemplation of law, it was bargained for.
*297Finally, I find no warrant in the majority’s conclusion that parties to a lease containing an exculpatory clause of the type in question here would normally consider it to refer only to damage caused by negligence occurring after the signing of the lease. As far as I can tell, the only basis for such a conclusion as to this language is the mere speculation of the majority as to what was occurring in the parties’ minds when the lease was signed. Such speculation, I submit, is not a sufficient foundation for establishing the legal intent of the parties. Therefore I see no reason for the majority’s requirement of the insertion of language specifically referring to antecedent negligence of the lessor in order to give the exculpatory clause effect in this case.
For these reasons I dissent.
Mr. Chief Justice Bell joins in this dissenting opinion.

 A discussion of the difficulties encountered in construing leases of the type involved in this case may be found in 28 U. Pitt. L. Rev. 85 (1966).