Owner Wins

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Facts: A shopping center owner signed a lease guaranteed by the tenant’s business partners. The tenant stopped paying rent. The guarantors refused to pay. They argued that because the “landlord” was listed as a different business entity in the lease than in the guaranty, they weren’t responsible for the lease obligations. The owner sued the tenant and the guarantors. A court ruled in favor of the owner as to its claims against the tenant—ordering it to pay back rent—but not the guarantors. The owner appealed.

Facts: The owner of retail space sent a notice informing its tenant that it was in breach of the lease because it hadn’t installed a fire alarm system. The tenant refused to install a system, and the owner was fined by the city. The owner filed a petition with a court to evict the tenant. A judge ruled in favor of the owner in that declaratory judgment action.

Facts: A retail tenant was required by its lease to get the owner’s consent for all assignments and subleases. The tenant defaulted on its lease by, among other violations, assigning without permission the lease to its separate corporate entity, which later subleased the space to a jewelry store. 

Facts: A retail tenant’s lease provided that a certain number of parking spaces would be available outside the space it rented. The lease provisions specified that the tenant would let the owner know at the beginning of each month how many parking spots it would need. The owner would charge the tenant accordingly. Thus, the parking spots were used by the tenant on “as-needed” basis.

Facts: An office building owner rented space to a media company. The tenant was permitted to vacate the space early, in the third year of the lease, provided that it gave 90 days’ written notice, returned the keys to the owner, and paid any outstanding rent and other charges. After two years, the tenant talked to the owner’s employee, asking to terminate the lease. The tenant owed back rent and other fees, but it gave the keys to the employee and moved out.

The owner found a new tenant. It sued the previous tenant for breach of contract.

Facts: The owner of space leased by a kitchen and bath product retailer locked the tenant out of its space after it paid partial rent for several months and then stopped paying rent altogether. The tenant claimed that it was relieved of the obligation to pay rent after the owner locked the tenant out of the leased premises. The owner asked a trial court for a judgment in its favor without a trial and for damages. The trial court granted the request. The tenant appealed.

Facts: A clothing store tenant signed a modification and extension agreement to extend its five-year lease. There had been no guarantor for the original lease, but the owner required the tenant’s principal to guaranty the lease in order to extend it. The modification and extension agreement required that “tenant shall cause its principal to enter into the Guaranty attached hereto and made a part hereof.” The principal signed the modification and extension agreement.

Facts: A video rental store tenant stopped paying rent after the shopping center’s owner hung “Retail Space for Lease” signs in the windows and invited real estate brokers and potential lessees to tour the space. The tenant claimed that the owner’s actions decreased its sales and discouraged customers from coming into the store. It also asserted that the signs made its creditors concerned about the financial health of the business and some of them stopped doing business with the tenant. The tenant sued the owner.

Facts: A shopping center owner sued one of its tenants, challenging the enforceability of lease provisions conditioning the tenant’s obligation to open a store and pay rent on a specific retailer operating a store in the center on the commencement date of the lease. It also challenged the tenant’s option to terminate the lease if the retailer ceased operations and was not replaced by another, acceptable retailer within 12 months.

Facts: A supermarket customer fell and was injured in the parking lot at the shopping center. She sued the tenant, claiming that the fall occurred because of a defective and dangerous condition there. The tenant notified the customer that the center’s owner was responsible for the lot’s upkeep. It provided the customer with the lease that identified the owner and stated that it was responsible for the center’s common area, including the parking lot.