Owner Loses

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Facts: A pedestrian was injured when he fell through a concrete-filled metal grate in a public sidewalk. The grate covered a defunct stairwell to the basement of a building on the property abutting the sidewalk. The stairwell had been reconstructed with the grate by the abutting property's owner in 1968 in accordance with city specifications. Before the reconstruction, it had been installed solely for the abutting owner's convenience.

Facts: A fast-food restaurant had an exclusive right to sell “sandwiches and subs” in a shopping center that consisted of three buildings (Building A, Building B, and Building C). The fast-food restaurant tenant was located in Building A.

Facts: An owner of a Miami, Fla., office building that was still under construction signed a 10-year lease with a tenant under which the tenant would move in 90 days after completion of the building. The lease was signed by one of the owner's employees and the tenant's president and vice president. However, there were no witnesses to any of the signatures. As the building neared completion, the owner repudiated—that is, rejected—the lease beca...

Facts: An office tenant notified her building's manager about a dangerous condition in a common walkway. Although the manager promised to repair the walkway, it was not fixed, nor was any warning sign posted. After injuring her right foot, right arm, and both knees when she tripped on the faulty walkway, the tenant sued the building's owner, management company, and manager for negligence based on premises liability. The trial court awarded judgment withou...

Facts: The owner of a shopping center replaced its roof in February 2006. Soon after, a tenant leased retail space in the center to operate her clothing store, but water began seeping in through leaks in the roof, and by June 2006 the entire store was flooded. As a result, much of the tenant's inventory was damaged.

After a brief and unsuccessful re-opening, the tenant's store closed permanently in November 2006. The tenant sued the owner for breach...

Facts: After signing a lease and moving into its new space, a tenant was notified via inspection that its sprinkler system violated several fire code provisions and that it was storing merchandise too close to the sprinkler riser. The tenant asked the owner to correct the sprinkler system deficiencies. The owner responded by giving the tenant a notice stating that it would terminate the lease if the tenant did not move the items away from the sprinkler.

Facts: The owner of a shopping center sued a former tenant, a fast-food chain company, after the company's franchisee assumed the company's original lease but then breached by terminating early. Because the company remained the guarantor under the original lease, it made the franchisee's rent payments to the owner after the breach. The company and the owner later entered negotiations for a new lease, which broke down after the company objected ...

Facts: A real estate company and an insurance company that were joint owners of a shopping center signed a declaration creating restrictive covenants that were to run with the land on which the center was built. Under the declaration, a tenant that sold food and drugs had an exclusive right to operate a “grocery store” in the shopping center. The grocery store leased its space from the real estate company, which had purchased its share of the shopping...

Facts: Between 1998 and 2005, a tenant signed lease agreements for 15 of its electronics stores in various shopping centers managed by a real estate investment trust. The lease agreements required the manager to obtain property and liability insurance for the common areas of the centers. Each tenant in the centers was responsible for reimbursing the manager for its pro rata share of the cost.

Facts: Danada Square, LLC, the operator of a shopping center, sued KFC National Management Company, a former tenant, after a KFC franchisee assumed KFC's original lease but terminated the lease with Danada early. Because KFC remained the guarantor under the original lease, it made the franchisee's rent payments to Danada after the breach. KFC and Danada entered negotiations for a new lease, which broke down after KFC objected to an unreasonable 60-day-out...