Owner Wins

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Facts: An office building tenant was in default of its lease and subsequently filed for bankruptcy. The lease had been guaranteed. The guarantor hadn’t filed for bankruptcy. When the building’s owner informed the guarantor that it would have to cover the back rent and other lease obligations of the tenant, the guarantor refused. The guarantor claimed that it wasn’t responsible for the lease because the tenant had allegedly been fraudulently induced to sign the lease.

Facts: Two guarantors agreed to be liable for rent payments under a lease for stationery store space. Shortly before the lease was to expire, the tenant and the owner of the shopping center where the store was located entered into an amendment, extending the lease term. The amendment provided that the tenant was obligated to pay its minimum annual rent in equal monthly installments on or before the first day of each calendar month. After the tenant failed to pay the minimum rent and operating costs that were due, the owner tried to enforce the guaranty.

Facts: An owner signed a lease with a tenant for space to operate a convenience store. After the tenant took possession of the space it notified the owner that the owner’s obligation to remove or remediate any asbestos in the building was waived. The tenant began making improvements to the space; in the process of construction, some drilling work released asbestos into the building. The owner undertook expensive asbestos removal procedures that totaled nearly $170,000 to remediate the problem the tenant’s construction had created. 

Facts: An owner signed a lease for nightclub space with a tenant. Under the lease, the owner was entitled to additional rent under certain circumstances. The owner had no day-to-day supervision over the property or the tenant. After a nightclub customer was attacked by a third party, he sued the owner and the tenant. He claimed that the owner and tenant were both liable for his injuries because they had a duty of care to protect him and other customers.

Facts: A tenant assigned its lease for office space. The assignee later claimed that the owner was required to pay a tenant improvement allowance (TIA). The assignee based its argument on lease drafts that had discussed a TIA. But the final version of the lease, which the tenant and owner signed, didn’t have a TIA provision. The owner refused to pay the TIA, arguing that it hadn’t agreed to pay it and that the lease didn’t obligate it to.

Facts: A woman purporting to be the owner of a property signed a lease with a tenant for space to operate its auto body shop. The lease required the tenant to make necessary repairs and improvements, and it specified that those improvements would be left behind at the end of the lease.

Facts: The owner of a gas station signed a lease with a tenant. The tenant became a sublandlord when it signed a convenience store sublease for space at the gas station where a subtenant could operate its coffee shop. The sublease with the coffee shop subtenant was for a 10-year “initial term” with two five-year term renewals. The subtenant expressed concern that it would have to leave its space early if the sublandlord didn’t actually have a right to the space for the term of the sublease.

Facts: The owner of a shopping center sued a tenant for breach of its lease. The owner had charged as part of common area maintenance (CAM) a prorated amount that it had to spend on fixing potholes in the parking lot and installing signs limiting the parking lot to customers. The owner classified these repairs as maintenance. Under its lease, the tenant was responsible for its share of maintenance at the center. The tenant argued that these were “capital improvements,” not maintenance, and didn’t fall under CAM.

Facts: A car dealership leased a lot where its inventory was stored. It contracted with a car carrier company to transport its cars from certain locations to the lot. A mechanism devised by the dealership tenant to control traffic at the entrance to the lot pulled a brick wall down. A security guard was injured by the wall and sued both the dealership tenant and the carrier company. The tenant asked the carrier to indemnify it—that is, reimburse it for the money it was required to pay to the security guard for her injuries.

Facts: A shopping center owner sued its tenant for violating the permitted-use provision of its lease, which allowed it to operate a batting cage and hold agility classes for team sports. Specifically, the tenant had been offering strength-and-conditioning classes, fitness-training classes, dance classes, and rowing machines on the premises. (Another tenant in the mall operated a gym and its lease limited the activities of other tenants offering sports and exercise services.)