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What Happened: After safely pulling off the stunt on several occasions, an office tenant who climbed onto his desk and used a broomstick to close hard-to-reach blinds fell to the floor and broke his spine. Blaming his injuries on the landlord’s failure to maintain the premises in a safe condition, he sued for medical bills and damages. When the court rejected his negligence claims, he appealed.
Decision: The Illinois appeals court upheld the decision to toss the case without a trial.
What Happened A new shopping center lease says that a restaurant tenant doesn’t have to pay rent until the landlord “delivers possession of the premises.” Unfortunately, the lease doesn’t define the phrase.
What Happened: After years of letting a pizzeria dump its trash in its alley, a neighboring property owner said no more and locked the gateway. At first, the pizzeria put the trash out front, but after local officials complained, it stored the trash inside. The resulting rat infestation forced the pizzeria to close down for several days at a time.
What Happened: When the tenant and surety didn’t show up for the eviction proceeding, the court awarded the landlord default judgment. The landlord then sent the tenant and surety notice to collect their personal property and disposed of the stuff when they didn’t respond after seven days. Only then did the tenant and surety reemerge to sue the landlord for conversion—that is, taking unlawful possession of their property.
Section 7: [T]here shall be no allowance to Tenant for a diminution in rental value, and no liability on part of Landlord by reason of inconvenience, annoyance or injury to person(s), property or business arising from the making of any repairs, alterations, additions or improvements in or to any portion of the building or the premises or in or to the fixtures, appurtenances or equipment.
What Happened: A shopping center lease requires the anchor tenants, which are also partial owners, to pay a fixed part of the property’s real estate taxes, and allocates the remaining tax liability to the non-owner tenants proportionally on the basis of square footage leased. The problems began when one of the anchors, Sears, went out of business and the landlord allocated Sears’ tax liability among the non-anchor tenants, including a food store that paid the tax increase under protest. Later, when the store got evicted, nasty litigation ensued.
What Happened: The case began when a shopper tripped on the gap of a sidewalk outside a grocery store leased by Pathmark. Since the owner was now bankrupt, the victim’s case hinged on a single question: Was Pathmark, as tenant, liable for the defective sidewalk? Pathmark claimed that if there was any negligence, the owner was wholly responsible. The victim won Round 1, setting the stage for the appeal.
Decision: The New Jersey appeals court affirmed the ruling of negligence against Pathmark.
What Happened: To the owner, this was an open-and-shut case: The fashion store tenant it evicted owed unpaid rent. To the tenant, it was more complicated than that. The tenant contended that the owner committed constructive eviction by cutting off its electricity. The court sided with the owner, and the tenant appealed.
Decision: The New York court agreed that there was no constructive eviction and upheld summary judgment for the owner.
What Happened: A landlord sued to evict a physician tenant for not paying rent. While acknowledging that she was five months in arrears, the tenant noted that she had been allowed to pay late two years earlier without being charged late fees and that the landlord had thus waived its right to timely rent. The court agreed and found the landlord liable for wrongful eviction.
What Happened: A Colorado shopping center leased 7,000 square feet of space to a tenant “for the purposes of operating indoor golf simulators, to include the sale of golf-related apparel, a ‘fast casual’ restaurant, and a bar.” News of the new occupant didn’t sit well with the current tenant holding the exclusive right to operate “a sports-themed restaurant/bar larger than 5,000 square feet” in the center.
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