Facts: A representative of a technology services firm toured a vacant building with two prospective owners who were considering buying the property, but only if they could find an appropriate tenant for it. The representative expressed interest in renting the space, but didn't sign a...
Facts: A building owner leased space to a restaurant tenant for a five-year term. During the course of renegotiating the lease at the end of the term, the tenant gave the owner a personal written guaranty. The lease provided for accelerated rent if the tenant breached the lease. The...
Facts: For over 30 years, an auto body business rented commercial property made up of several buildings. Ten years into the lease, the tenant built a small building on the property to use as a “paint room” where it could paint cars it had repaired. A few years later, it...
Facts: An owner and insurance agency signed a 10-year lease for office space. The lease provided for two renewal terms of five years each if the tenant notified the owner 12 months prior to the end of the lease of its intention to renew. The lease also required the tenant to meet with the...
Facts: A jewelry store that rented space in an outdoor shopping center sued the owner of the center for fraud. At the time the tenant expressed interest in renting space in the center, the owner represented that a second center, “Phase II,” would be built next door, creating a...
Facts: A restaurant tenant signed a lease for space in a food court area of an office building. The tenant sued the building's owner for fraud and breach of contract, alleging that its food and supply delivery people were being refused access to the entrance of the building and the...
Facts: A franchised restaurant tenant signed a lease with a property owner/developer while the shopping center where it would rent space was still being developed. The tenant as a corporation signed the lease as both tenant and guarantor.
Facts: After a retail tenant didn't pay its rent, the owner of the space sued it for defaulting on its lease. The tenant didn't dispute the owner's claim that it had breached the lease. Instead, it argued that the owner was obligated to mitigate its damages—that is, take...
Facts: The exclusive-use provision in a tenant's lease barred the owner from renting space in its shopping center to other tenants that sold stationary and school supplies. Several months later a school supply store opened in the center, but the tenant didn't object.
Facts: A retail tenant assigned its lease to a drugstore, but asked the owner if it could remain primarily liable for the strip mall space, instead of reducing or entirely relieving itself from liability. The owner objected to the assignment and sued the tenant.
Facts: A tenant that operated a thrift store was evicted for nonpayment of rent. The owner believed the store's inventory, which the tenant had left behind, was “junk” and disposed of it without waiting 15 days—the statutory period during which tenants have an...
