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What Happened: A pedestrian sues the store owner and landlord for negligence after tripping over allegedly defective cellar doors located on the sidewalk in front of the premises. The landlord asks to be let out of the suit under state laws relieving out-of-possession landlords who have no duty to make repairs for liability for defects on the property. But the court rules that the landlord, while out-of-possession, could still be liable if the victim ca...
What Happened: A high-end restaurant operator leased property on Holyoke Street in Harvard Square knowing that the university/landlord was planning to undertake a major, four-year construction project spanning an entire city block across the street. The blasting work began two months later. A few months later, the contractor, with the city and Harvard’s permission, closed Holyoke Street during work hours to facilitate construction.
What Happened: A landlord took a cosmetology school tenant and its guarantors to court for failing to pay rent in 2020 while government COVID-19 shutdown orders were in effect. The defendants raised the usual affirmative defenses including force majeure and frustration of purpose. And, as usual, the court rejected the defenses and found the tenant liable for unpaid rent. It also ordered the tenant to pay a late fee of 5 percent of base rent for each mon...
What Happened: The owners of a hair salon sued their shopping center landlord for breach of lease, wrongful eviction, and other claims. They wanted a jury trial, but the landlord objected, citing the lease provision purporting to waive the tenants’ “right to a trial by jury in any action, proceeding or counterclaim on any matter whatsoever arising out of or in any way connected with this lease.” The tenants claimed the waiver clause wa...
What Happened: In 1993, a tenant signed a lease to operate a tanning salon at a strip mall. The agreement included a third-party guaranty. The lease was amended in 1994 and again in 1996. In each case, the guarantors signed the amendments. In 1999, the sides executed a third amendment making significant changes to the original 1993 lease, including moving the tanning salon to another location owned by the landlord.
What Happened: A landlord and tenant sign a three-year lease on a parcel of real estate containing three garage bays for use as an auto repair shop. Soon after the tenant opens for business, citizens complain about the lack of parking near one of the bays. The city investigates and discovers a 30-year-old ordnance unique to the property ordering the owner to seal one of the bays. The tenant closes and seals the third service bay just to be cautious. The...
What Happened: A lease required the tenant that would occupy 45 percent of the space in a four-story building to pay 42.98 percent of the taxes on the property. The agreement contained a tax escalation clause requiring the tenant to pay the proportionate share of tax increases on the building. The landlord later added seven floors of new residential space, turning the premises into an 11-story mixed-use building carrying a much higher tax.
What Happened: A tenant assigned its lease for commercial office space in Texas to its corporate sibling. The landlord and new tenant then amended the terms of the original lease. After evicting the new tenant for nonpayment of rent, the landlord sued the old tenant for the new tenant’s violation of the lease amendments. The old tenant denied responsibility for the breaches since the amendments were made after it assigned the lease and without its...
What Happened: Blockages in sewer pipelines located outside the property caused a constant stream of sewer backups inside a tenant’s store. Eventually, the tenant decided that enough was enough and vacated the premises. When the landlord sued for unpaid rent, the tenant claimed that the sewer problems rendered the property untenantable and gave it the right to terminate the lease. The landlord denied responsibility for the sewer situation and move...
What Happened: An exterminator working for Best Buy suffered serious injury after slipping and falling in the store’s icy parking lot. He sued Best Buy and the landlord that owned the property for negligence. Best Buy denied responsibility for maintaining the parking lot in safe condition because the property was under the landlord’s control. So, it moved for summary judgment.
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