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Facts: A bank tenant signed a triple-net lease for a standalone building in a shopping center. (Under a typical "triple-net" lease, the tenant pays all expenses, including property taxes and insurance, maintenance, and utilities, leaving the owner with no expense associated with the property.) Under the triple-net lease, the tenant would be responsible for property management tasks and their cost for its leased space, but also pay a share of t...
Facts: A bookstore tenant filed for bankruptcy. During the bankruptcy proceedings regarding whether its lease would be rejected or assumed, the owner sent the tenant a notice requesting access to the tenant’s space to perform an “as-built” survey of the space to determine whether it was structurally sound in case of an earthquake or needed work to make it so. The tenant refused access to the space, which resulted in the owner incurring...
Facts: After an office tenant held over its space past its lease term and stopped paying rent, the owner sued the tenant’s president in his personal capacity, asserting that he was a guarantor of the lease and thus was responsible for paying the rent when the tenant stopped. The president claimed that he hadn’t executed a personal guaranty of the lease between the tenant and owner that could be enforced. A trial court agreed and ruled in fav...
Facts: A dry cleaning business in a shopping center incorrectly installed commercial dryers in its space without using a professionally trained installer. It vented the dryers into the attic instead of to the building’s exterior. The shoddy installation later caused a fire. The center’s owner sued the tenant for negligence and breaching its lease by taking actions that damaged the center. The tenant asked a district court for a judgment in i...
Facts: An office tenant’s lease contained two conflicting provisions regarding the time frame in which the owner was required to fix damage to the tenant’s space. After a roof collapse led to flooding and damage that forced the tenant out of its space temporarily, the tenant—under one lease provision—demanded that the owner fix the damage within 30 days or allow the tenant to terminate its lease. The owner argued that a second le...
Facts: A shopper tripped and fell on a two-tiered sidewalk in front of two retail stores. The sidewalk was marked with red paint to warn pedestrians about the drop-off from the upper to the lower level. Still, various employees of the tenants noted that they had witnessed pedestrians trip on the sidewalk “at least once a day.”
Facts: A mall owner sued a tenant for allegedly breaching its lease, asking for more than $190,000 in accelerated rent and other fees. After the tenant didn’t respond to the litigation, a trial court entered a default judgment against it. The tenant later asked the court to set aside the default judgment.
Decision: A Pennsylvania district court ruled in favor of the tenant.
Facts: A tenant that operated a printing business signed a 15-year lease for space. The owner of the building later demanded that the tenant replace the aging heating and air conditioning (HVAC) system and parking lot. The tenant claimed that was the owner’s responsibility. The owner sued the tenant. A district court ordered the tenant to replace the HVAC system and parking lot. The tenant appealed.
Facts: A tenant rented space to operate its dental practice. After the building was bought by a new owner that intended to turn the building into a hotel, the tenant received a notice of cancellation. The lease gave the owner the right to cancel the lease if it intends to apply for a permit to demolish “all or substantially all” of the building, and provided that if the owner cancels the lease and thereafter fails to obtain such a permit bef...
Facts: After a flood damaged its store in a strip mall, a sporting goods tenant announced that it would be closing its store and moving out. The tenant informed the owner that it was no longer able to get and maintain adequate insurance as required by the lease. The tenant was also concerned that the flooding would occur again, and claimed that the previous owner of the shopping center from whom the tenant first rented its space hadn’t disclosed t...
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