I. Frye’s Complaint Does Not State a Prima Facie Claim for Retaliatory Eviction.
In Frye’s complaint she contends that the Defendants evicted her in retaliation for her threat to pursue litigation following her alleged fall in an apartment unit owned by Stapleton. For this alleged eviction, Frey asserts that she is entitled to over four million dollars in damages. For the reasons stated herein, however, Frye’s complaint is insufficient to state a claim for retaliatory eviction as a matter of law.
“If the court finds that a landlord committed a retaliatory action, the court may award the tenant damages against the landlord in an amount not to exceed the equivalent of three months’ rent, reasonable attorneys’ fees, and court costs.” Lockett v. Blue Ocean Bristol,…show more content… . .
Moreover, in order to trigger the provisions of RP § 8-208.1, the Plaintiff must have, in fact, been evicted. An eviction may be either actual or constructive. An actual eviction is “‘[a]n actual expulsion of the tenant out of all or some part of the demised premises. A physical ouster or dispossession from the very thing granted or some substantial part thereof.’” BTR Hampstead, LLC v. Source Interlink Distrib., LLC, 194 Md. App. 538, 555 (2010) (quoting Black’s Law Dictionary 35 (6th ed. 1990)).
Particular acts by the landlord that have been found to be sufficient to constitute actual eviction of a tenant have included changing the locks on the leased premises, refusing to permit the tenant to enter a building in which space has been leased, padlocking the entry to the leased premises, and taking possession of the leased premises with threats of violence against the tenant or members of the tenant's family if they attempt to
