Owner Loses

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Facts: Two tenants leased space at a property. The first tenant had a right of first refusal to buy the entire property, including the second tenant’s space, if a third party made an offer. The second tenant had the option to buy its own space at a certain year in its lease term. But that was subject to the first tenant’s right of first refusal—that is, if the first tenant were offered the opportunity to buy the second tenant’s s...

Facts: A souvenir shop tenant’s lease that was signed in 2000 required it to provide an estoppel certificate to the owner of the building within 10 days. There was a dispute between the owner and tenant as to whether that version of the lease or a new lease that had been executed in 2013 controlled the space the tenant rented. The 2013 lease didn’t require the tenant to provide an estoppel certificate. The tenant wanted to wait until the dis...

Facts: In order to open and operate a daycare under state law, Florida daycare tenants must first sign a lease for space before applying for a license to operate the business. A daycare executed a five-year commercial lease for two store spaces in a shopping center while it applied for and waited for its license. The daycare owners executed personal guarantees of the lease. The lease stated that the tenant could use the premises “solely for the pu...

Facts: A tenant that operated a gym received a notice from the owner of its space ordering it to obtain the proper permits to operate its business, which were required by its lease. The tenant asked a New York trial court for a Yellowstone injunction, which would toll—that is, pause—the period to cure the alleged violations of the lease. The tenant claimed that it was still in the process of obtaining the necessary approvals and permits.

Facts: A grocery store customer who slipped and fell on ice in the strip mall’s parking lot sued the grocery store tenant, the center’s owner, and the snow-removal contractor and subcontractor for her injuries. She asserted that they all had a duty of care to keep the parking lot free of ice that posed a danger to customers. All four parties asked a trial court for a judgment in their favor without a trial, and a trial court ruled in their f...

Facts: A tenant and owner negotiated a four-month lease for commercial space, with an option to renew on a month-to-month basis. The tenant failed to pay rent for two months in a row, but asked the owner to extend the lease for an additional month past the original lease term. The owner agreed to the extension, provided that the tenant pay past due rent and fees and pay the additional month’s rent. The tenant agreed, but ultimately failed to follo...

Facts: A restaurant tenant faced with an eviction order offered the owner of the space $40,000 to extend the time it could use the space after it was supposed to vacate. The tenant wanted to use the extra time to work out a deal with a potential buyer of the restaurant, who planned to use the same space. The deal fell through, however. In the meantime, the tenant tried to remove some of its trade fixtures and equipment; the owner’s representative ...

Facts: A national pet product retailer received a notice of default and termination from the owner of the space it rented. The owner alleged that the tenant had failed to perform its maintenance obligations under the lease, most notably, failing to fix a large crack in a wall, which entitled the owner to terminate the lease. But the tenant argued that the lease terms allowed a cure period—that is, a period of time after it received the default not...

Facts: A tenant negotiated a lease that granted it an ongoing right to terminate its obligations in the event of a sale or relocation of its business. Specifically, the lease stated that, “provided the Tenant is selling or moving the business, Tenant shall have the ongoing right to terminate its obligations…upon twelve (12) months’ written notice to Landlord.”

Facts: An owner and tenant signed a lease for office space, whereby each party would perform renovations to the space to convert it from industrial to office space. The owner was to perform its renovations first. After the owner missed the deadline to turn the space over to the tenant with the completed renovations—a material breach—the tenant notified the owner that it planned to terminate the lease.