Owner Loses

RSS

What Happened: Winter Storm Uri devastated a commercial building six weeks before the lease was due to expire. The lease required the tenant to carry commercial general liability insurance on the property, name the landlord as an additional insured, and remit the insurance proceeds to the landlord. The tenant submitted a claim for the damages and paid rent through the end of the lease term before vacating the building. But because it hadn’t yet remitted any insurance proceeds, the landlord treated the tenant as a holdover.

What Happened: After the lease ended, a shopping center tenant hired a self-employed independent contractor to remove an exterior sign from the space. While performing the work, the contractor fell through a roof opening and suffered serious injuries. He sued the landlord, rather than the tenant, for damages, but the trial court dismissed the case, citing a California rule called the Privette doctrine holding that a person who hires an independent contractor isn’t liable for the injuries the contractor suffers doing the work.

What Happened: There was no dispute that a Chicago hair lice removal salon that stopped paying its nearly $5,000 monthly rent was in default under the lease. The issue was whether the landlord could enforce the lease clause granting it 27 months of future rent as liquidated damages. The lower court ruled that the clause was enforceable, and the tenant appealed.

Ruling: The Illinois appeal court reversed, finding the liquidated damages clause void as a matter of public policy.  

What Happened: In the summer of 2018, a tax firm tenant shut down its business and moved out of the building it was leasing. The surrender was documented in a written agreement that the tenant and landlord both signed. A few months later, the property was sold. During a severe cold spell in January 2019, the water pipes froze and burst, inflicting flooding damage so severe that the building had to be demolished.

What Happened: The tenant was behind on its rent, and the restaurant was closed. So, the landlord assumed that the property was abandoned and exercised its lease right to reenter and change the locks. It then sued the tenant for unpaid rent and late charges. The tenant denied that it had abandoned the property and countersued the landlord for illegal lockout and wrongful possession of the personal property inside the restaurant. Finding the landlord more credible, the court dismissed the tenant’s counterclaims and ordered it to pay $76,567 in back rent and damages.

What Happened: A nonprofit landlord leased property to a for-profit utility to operate a solar-powered electric-generating facility. The lease required the tenant to:

What Happened: A shopping center tenant exercised its supposed right to pay reduced rent under a co-tenancy clause that kicked in when either: (1) the center lacked either three anchor tenants; or (2) 60 percent of the space wasn’t leased. While acknowledging that a trigger condition had occurred (that is, the closing of anchors Sports Chalet and Toys “R” Us), the landlord claimed the reduced rent was an unenforceable penalty, citing a 2015 California case called Grand Prospect Partners, L.P. v.