Settlement Nullified Tenant's Right to Get Attorney's Fees

A lease allowed the “prevailing party” of an eviction proceeding or lawsuit relating to the lease to recover reasonable attorney's fees from the other party. The tenant sued the owner for not maintaining the floor of its space. The owner argued that the tenant hadn't paid its taxes and sought to evict the tenant. A judge barred the eviction, noting that the parties' lease didn't require the tenant to satisfy the unpaid taxes. The judge recommended a hearing to determine the tenant's damages and whether it had properly exercised a renewal option. The parties then signed a settlement agreement. The tenant asked the court to force the owner to pay its attorney's fees because it was the prevailing party in the lawsuit.

An Ohio appeals court ruled that the tenant couldn't force the owner to pay its attorney's fees. The court discovered that the parties' settlement agreement called for a new lease because their lease had expired, increased the monthly rent, modified their maintenance obligations, and made the tenant responsible for paying past—not future—taxes. By agreeing to a new lease that “compromised and altered [the tenant's] terms of possession of the premises under the former lease,” the tenant had forfeited its status as the prevailing party, said the court [Keal v. Day].