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Facts: A tenant leased space in a shopping center for its restaurant. The tenant had an option to renew its lease, but had to exercise that option a year before the lease term was to expire. The tenant claimed that it sent a letter to the owner of its space, letting it know that it would renew its lease. The owner claimed that it hadn’t received the letter. It refused to extend the lease. The tenant sued the owner. A trial court ruled in favor of ...

Facts: A restaurant with a 1950s American roadside diner theme leased space at a shopping center. Later, the owner signed a lease with a pancake house restaurant franchisee for space nearby. The tenant asserted that the new lease with the pancake restaurant violated a restrictive covenant in its lease with the tenant.

Facts: Two guarantors promised to carry out the lease obligations of a restaurant tenant in the event that the tenant defaulted. The lease’s assignment and subletting clause required the tenant to get the owner’s consent to an assignment or sublet.

After the tenant made partial rent payments several months in a row, the owner terminated the lease and sued the tenant for the back rent of more than $54,000. The tenant claimed that it had...

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 fraudul...

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 fail...

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 to...

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...