## Facts

- In 1973, Craig Wrecking Co. leased land from the Pringle heirs for landfill use for five years, with an option to renew for five additional years.
- During the original term, Craig Wrecking frequently paid rent late and was in arrears when the lease term ended on March 31, 1978.
- Craig Wrecking did not exercise the renewal option in writing but stayed in possession; the lessors did not evict and continued accepting late rent for nearly five more years.
- In March 1983, the lessors informed Craig Wrecking that S.G. Loewendick & Sons, Inc. had been engaged to manage the landfill.
- Around March 11, 1983, Loewendick entered with heavy equipment and deposited material into a nearby lake, altering the land; Craig Wrecking remained on the premises for about seven more months.
- Craig Wrecking purchased the property in October 1983.
- In 1985, Craig Wrecking sued Loewendick for trespass to land and for interference with personal property allegedly pushed into the lake.

## Issues

1. Whether Craig Wrecking’s continued possession and rent payments after lease expiration made it a holdover tenant bound by the original lease, including any contractual right of peaceful re-entry on default.
2. Whether Ohio’s forcible entry and detainer statutes (R.C. Chapter 1923) provide the exclusive remedy for a commercial landlord seeking possession, making peaceful self-help re-entry unlawful.
3. Whether the jury’s award of zero damages for alleged injury to personal property was against the manifest weight of the evidence.

## Decision

- The court affirmed a directed verdict for Loewendick on the trespass-to-land claim.
- The court held Craig Wrecking was a holdover tenant under the original lease and remained subject to lease provisions authorizing peaceful re-entry upon default.
- The court held R.C. Chapter 1923 was not the exclusive remedy for commercial lessors; peaceful self-help repossession is permitted when authorized by contract and accomplished without breach of the peace.
- The court affirmed the jury verdict finding no compensable damages to Craig Wrecking’s personal property.

## Legal Principles

- A tenant who remains in possession after lease expiration while the landlord accepts rent may be treated as a holdover tenant subject to the original lease terms.
- In a commercial lease, a contractual provision permitting peaceful re-entry and repossession upon default may be enforced through the landlord or its agent, absent breach of the peace.
- Ohio’s forcible entry and detainer procedures are not necessarily the exclusive method for commercial lessors to regain possession when a contract authorizes peaceful self-help.
- Trespass to chattels requires proof of actual damages; a zero-damages verdict will be sustained if supported by credible evidence that the property lacked compensable value.
- Appellate review of a zero-damages verdict applies a manifest-weight standard and defers to the factfinder where the record supports the outcome.

## Conclusion

The court treated the tenant’s post-expiration occupancy and rent payments as a holdover tenancy governed by the original commercial lease, upheld contract-based peaceful self-help re-entry (without breach of the peace) as permissible outside statutory eviction procedures, and sustained a jury’s zero-damages finding on personal property where the evidence supported a lack of compensable loss.


Craig Wrecking Co. v. S.G. Loewendick & Sons, Inc., 526 N.E.2d 321 (Ohio Ct. App. 1987)