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What Happened: A medical tenant remained in possession and paid the landlord normal rent after its one-year lease term expired. The landlord accepted the rent payments and didn’t demand that the tenant leave. Six months later, the property suffered flood damage. The tenant asked the landlord to make repairs. The landlord refused. So, the tenant notified the landlord that it was terminating the lease.
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.
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