Landlord Can't Prove that Mall Tenant Failed to Maintain Food Court

What Happened: A shopping center landlord sued to evict the tenant in charge of operating the mall’s food court for multiple lease violations, including failure to maintain the premises in a clean and orderly manner. After a three-day trial, the court concluded that the landlord failed to prove that the tenant materially breached the lease, allowing the tenant to stay in possession and awarding it certain costs and disbursements.

Ruling: The Minnesota court rejected the landlord’s appeal.

Reasoning: The evidence presented at trial shot down all four of the landlord’s assertions supporting the tenant’s alleged failure to maintain the premises:

• Allowing the awnings above the restaurant spaces to be in disrepair: The landlord conceded during the trial that the condition of the awnings wasn’t a material breach;
• Leaving a damaged, unpolished concrete subfloor in the premises: The lease didn’t specify a required floor type, and the tenant’s operations manager testified that the floor was a design choice consistent with the floors used in the mall;
• Failing to devote an employee to cleaning the premises, resulting in dirt, overflowing trash receptacles and grease traps, and a fruit fly infestation: The manager testified that there are three employees devoted to cleaning the premises after hours, and that staff “runners” are responsible for cleaning the food court on an ongoing basis during operating hours; and
• Having a runner rather than a third-party service provider clean exhaust hoods in the kitchens: Although the lease required the tenant to “obtain and maintain . . . a service contract for the regular cleaning, maintenance, repair and replacement of exhaust hoods,” use of a runner to do the job wasn’t a material breach.

• Northtown Mall Ters. LLC v. 398 Northtown Drive Bla LLC, 2024 Minn. App. Unpub. LEXIS 761