Owner Loses

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Facts: The space that a medical office tenant leased for its operations was flooded several times due to leaks in the building’s roof. Each time a flooding incident happened, the tenant informed the owner, who refused to make repairs. The tenant lost over $1.5 million in equipment due to water damage. It sued the owner, claiming that the owner had breached the lease by not making repairs and demanded that the owner pay for the damage to the equipm...

Facts: A clothing retailer tenant signed a lease for space at a shopping center. The lease included cotenancy provisions that required the owner to lease space to three major tenants. If all three tenants were open and operating continuously, the retail tenant paid minimum rent. In the event that one or more of those tenants stopped operating, the retail tenant could pay reduced rent and it would be considered a breach of the lease. One of the tenants m...

Facts: A dry cleaning business subleased space in a shopping center. The business owner was also the guarantor on the sublease. The subtenant prematurely vacated the space. The landlord sued the subtenant. A trial court ruled in favor of the landlord, awarding it $343,000 in damages. The damages represented lost rent over the remainder of the sublease, real estate escalation charges, the cost of a new sign, the costs of preparing the space for re-rental...

Facts: An owner and tenant signed a lease for a four-story parking garage with two retail spaces below it. The owner served the tenant with a written notice to cure 21 lease violations primarily related to the physical deterioration of the building caused by the tenant. In response, the tenant asked a trial court for a Yellowstone injunction to prevent the owner from taking any steps to terminate the tenancy until the matter could be resolved.

Facts: The owner of a movie theater signed a lease for space at a mall. Over a period of time, maintenance issues, like timely garbage removal, became apparent. The tenant asked the owner to take care of maintenance and upkeep, asserting that the lease and common area maintenance (CAM) agreement required it to do so. The owner claimed that the lease and the agreement didn’t require it to maintain common areas and that the onus was on the tenant to...

Facts: The lease between a multiple-phase shopping center owner and national tenant indicated that the tenant would occupy a space in building A of phase one in the not-yet-constructed property. The lease contained certain provisions concerning the construction process and the future tenants of the center.

Facts: A shopping center tenant affixed its name to a pylon sign on the property. The owner of the center disputed the tenant’s right to use the sign. The owner and tenant each asked a trial court for a judgment in its favor without a trial.

Decision: A Massachusetts trial court ruled in favor of the tenant.

Facts: A shopping center owner decided to construct a new set of buildings within the shopping center grounds, which would house tenants that would be beneficial to its anchor store, a national clothing retailer. The retailer’s lease contains a clause that requires the owner to get the retailer’s approval before constructing any new building or structure within the shopping center.

Facts: A sushi restaurant began operating in the basement space of a mixed-use brownstone building that included other commercial space and some apartments. It became apparent that cooking odors were wafting into the first-floor commercial space, which was vacant but being shown to prospective tenants by a realtor. Several prospective tenants didn’t sign leases because of the odor. The tenant took steps to ameliorate the cooking odor, but the land...

Facts: A shopping center owner and a restaurant tenant signed a lease for a certain amount of space. Under the lease, the tenant was required to pay monthly rent consisting of two components. The first component, called “Minimum Rent,” involved a flat, base amount calculated on the amount of square footage of leased space. This base rate was graduated to increase annually over the term of the lease.