What Happened: Another retail tenant has failed in its bid to use COVID-19 as an excuse for not paying rent. The tenant in this case was a New York City outlet of national retail chain The Gap, which claimed, among other things, that the pandemic and its resulting shutdowns...
What Happened: Upon arriving at his office, a tenant who was behind in his rent discovered that the landlord had changed the locks and left a paper notice taped to the inside glass door facing out. Its basic message: We’ve changed your lock. But we’re not...
What Happened: An employee coming to work in the morning suffered serious injuries after slipping on ice in the office parking lot. Whether due to workers’ comp or just professional self-preservation, the employee decided that suing the landlord made a lot more sense than...
What Happened: Like so many tenants affected by COVID-19, Saks Fifth Avenue stopped paying rent at its flagship New York City store. The landlord sued Saks’ parent company, the lease guarantor, for $2.7 million in unpaid rent. If these were normal times, we’d be...
What Happened: Like so many tenants affected by COVID-19, Saks Fifth Avenue stopped paying rent at its flagship New York City store. The landlord sued Saks’ parent company, the lease guarantor, for $2.7 million in unpaid rent. If these were normal times, we’d be...
What Happened: If there are any disputes under this lease, we’ll try to resolve them via mediation. If that doesn’t work, we’ll go to binding arbitration. Those were the essential terms of a commercial lease between a landlord and gas station owner. Sure enough...
What Happened: Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: A gym that had to shut down temporarily under the governor’s COVID-19 emergency orders stopped paying rent in March. The landlord couldn’t evict because of the state-wide moratorium on commercial evictions...
“Within thirty (30) days after the Effective Date of the Lease, the parties shall agree upon a preliminary description of the Tenant's Work, which shall be attached to the Lease as Exhibit D. Within sixty (60) days following the Effective Date of the Lease, the parties shall agree...
What Happened: An airport tenant assigned its lease to an assignee. In June 2020, the owner and tenant signed an agreement terminating the lease. In August, the assignee filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The owner asked for permission to bring a lawsuit to evict the assignee...
What Happened: A county in a state with legalized marijuana adopted an ordinance banning cultivation. A tenant that got its license before the ban was adopted determined that it was exempt and kept on operating. But the tenant had never gotten the required permits and thus wasn...
What Happened: A medical clinic signed a multi-year lease on a three-story building requiring major renovations. After faithfully paying monthly rent for two years, the clinic stopped making its rent payments. The landlord sent a default notice giving the clinic five days to...
What Happened: Six years into its 10-year term, an owner exercised its lease right to adjust a dental clinic tenant’s rent. But the clinic refused to pay the increase and moved out. The owner claimed the clinic was in default, terminated the lease, and demanded $1.5...
