State COVID-19 Shutdown Orders Didn’t Violate Tenant’s “Quiet Enjoyment” Rights

What Happened: Courts around the country continue to rule against tenants seeking to use the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse for not paying rent. One of the more creative cases involves a fitness center tenant that had to close from March through September 2020 due to shutdown orders. The tenant relied on the following language in claiming that it didn’t owe the landlord rent for the period:

Tenant shall have, throughout the entire Term and any extensions and renewals hereof, peaceful and quiet possession and enjoyment of the Premises without any ejection by Landlord or by any other person by, through or under Landlord.

After losing in lower court, the tenant appealed.

Ruling: After considering the evidence on its own, the Michigan appeals court also ruled against the tenant. 

Reasoning: There was no evidence that the landlord obstructed, interfered with, or otherwise prevented the tenant from using the premises for purposes of operating a health club and fitness facility. Rather, it was the governor who forced the closure by ordering nonessential public facing businesses to temporarily shut down to prevent the spread of COVID-19. “Interference or disturbance of [the tenant’s] possession resulting from the exercise of [the government’s] police power” doesn’t constitute a breach of the covenant of quiet enjoyment,” the court reasoned.

• Fitness Int'l LLC v. Cole la Bloomfield Hills MI LLC, 2024 Mich. App. LEXIS 1430, 2024 WL 742102