PHILADELPHIA – The owners of a local townhome community believe a Philadelphia landscaping company they contracted with to complete various tasks at their property did not complete the work, in spite of accepting over $20,000 related to the jobs in question.
Kingsley Court, LLC of Demarest, N.J., filed suit in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas on Oct. 10 versus Banicki Brothers Landscaping, Joshua J. Banicki, Jordan S. Banicki and Patrick Banicki, all of Philadelphia.
Kingsley Court is the developer of a Philadelphia townhome subdivision of the same name, and the defendants provided landscaping services to some of its homeowners, consisting of laying sod, cutting grass, excavation, erecting retaining walls and related services.
In September 2016, the parties entered into a contract for the defendants to provide a number of additional services at the plaintiff’s property, such as erecting two retaining walls, adjusting yard drains, fixing tire tracks and grading/leveling land – in exchange for the mutually-agreed upon price of $19,800.
According to the lawsuit, Banicki Brothers Landscaping demanded a $13,000 advance towards the work, which it received in two installments by Oct. 5, 2016. From Sept. 26, 2016 to Feb. 28, 2017, very little of the contracted work was supposedly completed – a retaining wall was excavated incorrectly, left incomplete and on a separate occasion, the defendants allegedly damaged the waterproofing to a neighboring business, Stanley’s Hardware.
The suit states the defendants also accepted other payments in regards to the remaining work related to the retaining wall in late 2016 and early 2017, but ultimately never completed the work.
For counts of breach of contract, negligence and fraud, the plaintiff is seeking damages of $35,000, plus interest dating back from Sept. 26, 2016 to the present, plus punitive damages as the Court may, in its discretion, determine.
The plaintiff is represented by Joshua S. Ganz of Duffy North, in Hatboro.
Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas case 171000964
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nickpennrecord@gmail.com