What Happened: An office lease required a home health agency tenant to obtain fire insurance on the “Premises.” The tenant got insurance for its property but not the building. The building burned down, and the landlord sued the tenant for damages. The court tossed...
What Happened: A diesel-fuel vehicle repair business leased a building for use solely as an “equipment service and prep facility for fire trucks and other vehicles.” The problems began when the landlord’s manager discovered significant cracks in the building...
What Happened: A restaurant exercised its renewal option but furnished notice only after the option period had expired. A month later, the landlord sold the property and notified the new owner that the restaurant’s tenancy was now month to month. The tenant sent the next...
What Happened: A landlord got agita after reading in the local newspaper that its tenant, the local Golden Corral restaurant, had closed down. Upon finding the property apparently abandoned and in very dirty condition, it changed the locks. It then sent the tenant a notice to...
What Happened: Winter Storm Uri devastated a commercial building six weeks before the lease was due to expire. The lease required the tenant to carry commercial general liability insurance on the property, name the landlord as an additional insured, and remit the insurance...
What Happened: After the lease ended, a shopping center tenant hired a self-employed independent contractor to remove an exterior sign from the space. While performing the work, the contractor fell through a roof opening and suffered serious injuries. He sued the landlord,...
What Happened: There was no dispute that a Chicago hair lice removal salon that stopped paying its nearly $5,000 monthly rent was in default under the lease. The issue was whether the landlord could enforce the lease clause granting it 27 months of future rent as liquidated...
What Happened: The landlord and tenant performed a massive buildout to make the more than 100,000 square feet of office space leased suitable for a financial services firm with “immense computing power” and infrastructure needs. Once the 15-year lease expired, the...
What Happened: Two years into a five-year lease, a medical center stopped paying rent and abandoned the property. At least that’s what it looked like to the property manager who found the place empty and stripped of all furnishings. The sign on the door indicating that the...
What Happened: In the summer of 2018, a tax firm tenant shut down its business and moved out of the building it was leasing. The surrender was documented in a written agreement that the tenant and landlord both signed. A few months later, the property was sold. During a severe...
What Happened: The tenant was behind on its rent, and the restaurant was closed. So, the landlord assumed that the property was abandoned and exercised its lease right to reenter and change the locks. It then sued the tenant for unpaid rent and late charges. The tenant denied...
