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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
What Happened: An Italian restaurant tried to assign its lease to a steakhouse, but the landlord refused and served notice of termination. The tenant denied committing any lease violation and asked the court to issue a temporary injunction barring the landlord from terminating...
