Parking Garage Near Miss Turns Heated, Landlord Blocks Firm's Access to Offices
A dispute between a law firm and its landlord that began with a near miss in a parking garage has landed in Pennsylvania court.
The law firm is Harrisburg-based Schutjer Boga and its landlord is the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, the Patriot-News reports. The chamber tried to block law firm workers from their offices on Monday in an escalating dispute that landed in court when the Schutjer Boga requested an injunction to get back into its offices.
It all began with a close call in a parking garage, the story says. Name partner Chad Bogar sent the chamber an e-mail complaining that a “wannabe NASCAR driver” nearly crashed into a vehicle driven by his wife in the office building parking garage.
A chamber vice president, Don Holt, didn’t appreciate the criticism. His lengthy e-mail reply is now a court exhibit. In one passage, he says, “I don’t fear anything. I don’t fear you. I don’t fear lawyers generally. I don’t fear threats. … I don’t fear bullies, etc. … You get the picture. The only things I do fear are the business end of a gun and the wrath of God.”
Holt concludes the e-mail with a Shakespeare quote, the story recounts. “The older I get, the better I understand Shakespeare’s comment about ‘killing all the lawyers.’ It wouldn’t solve all the world’s problems, but it would help a lot,” he wrote.
Bogar told the Patriot-News he viewed the e-mail as a threat, so he hired an armed guard. The chamber deemed that a violation of the lease, resulting in the blockade enforced by its own security guards, according to the law firm.
A judge issued a temporary order allowing the law firm to access its offices, and has scheduled a Jan. 24 hearing on a request for a preliminary injunction.
