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Landlord/Tenant – Commercial Lease – Constructive Eviction – Mold & Sewage Smells
The plaintiff-landlord asserts that the cause of the mold and the foul smell in the defendant-tenant’s jewelry story was a water leak from the adjacent restaurant between two interior walls of the building and was thus beyond the landlord’s obligation under the lease. However, the tenant presented other evidence and theories of potential sources and […]
Landlord/Tenant – Commercial Lease – Breach – Frustration of Purpose Doctrine
Plaintiff allege defendants breached a commercial lease agreement and guaranty. After defendant lost its authorization to conduct post-secondary instruction, it ceased operations, vacated the leased premises, and stopped paying rent. Because the lease permitted defendant to use the premises for any purpose legally permitted for class A office space in addition to the intended purpose […]
Landlord/Tenant – Commercial Lease – Attorneys’ Fees – Guarantors – Liquidated Damages
Even though the reciprocal attorneys’ fee statute, G.S. § 6-21.6, only went into effect on Oct. 1, 2011, since defendants signed their lease – which includes a reciprocal attorney’s fee provision – and guaranty on Oct. 3, 2011, and plaintiffs‘ manager signed the lease on Oct. 26, 2011, the lease is subject to § 6-21.6. […]
Landlord/Tenant – Commercial Lease – Initial Term & Renewals – Inconsistency – Purchase Option
We affirm the ruling of the Business Court (Although no one noticed it until 2014, there is a clear inconsistency in the parties’ 1990 lease, which says it has an initial term of five years beginning Jan. 1, 1990, and ending Dec. 31, 1995. Given the lease’s reliance on calendar dates for its five-year renewal […]
Landlord/Tenant – Commercial Lease – Substituted Space – Square Footage – Rent Owed
Jiangmen Kinwai Furniture Decoration Co. Ltd. v. IHFC Properties, LLC (Lawyers Weekly No. 003-018-17, 26 pp.) (N. Carlton Tilley Jr., S.J.) 1:14-cv-00689; M.D.N.C. Holding: As permitted by the parties’ lease, the defendant-landlord assigned the plaintiff-tenant a new space for the 2014 High Point Furniture Market rather than the space the tenant had occupied during the […]
Landlord/Tenant – Commercial Lease – Property Damage – Insurance Requirements – Tort/Negligence
Morrell v. Hardin Creek, Inc. (Lawyers Weekly No. 011-247-17, 30 pp.) (Robert Hunter Jr., J.) (Philip Berger Jr., J., dissenting) Appealed from Watauga County Superior Court (William Coward, J.) N.C. App. Holding: The parties’ lease says that the landlord and tenant “discharge each other from all claims and liabilities arising from or caused by any […]
Landlord/Tenant – Commercial Lease – Guaranty Agreement – Separate Contracts – Bankruptcy
Friday Investments, LLC v. Bally Total Fitness of the Mid-Atlantic, Inc. (Lawyers Weekly No. 011-222-17, 26 pp.) (John Tyson, J.) (Rick Elmore, J., dissenting) Appealed from Mecklenburg County Superior Court (Forrest Bridges, J.) N.C. App. Holding: A guaranty is separate from the contract it guarantees. However, ambiguous language makes it unclear whether the consolidated bankruptcy […]
Landlord/Tenant – Commercial Lease – Initial Term & Renewals – Inconsistency – Purchase Option
Vogler Reynolda Road, LLC v. SCI North Carolina Funeral Services, Inc. (Lawyers Weekly No. 020-038-17, 35 pp.) (James Gale, C.J.) 2017 NCBC 28 Holding: Although no one noticed it until 2014, there is a clear inconsistency in the parties’ 1990 lease, which says it has an initial term of five years beginning Jan. 1, 1990, […]
Civil Practice — Appeals – Real Party in Interest – Landlord/Tenant – Commercial Lease – LLC
King Fa, LLC v. Chen (Lawyers Weekly No. 011-228-16, 11 pp.) (Linda Stephens, J.) Appealed from Forsyth County District Court (Theodore Kazakos, J.) N.C. App. Holding: This appeal was taken in the name of a limited liability company that was formed after the lease in question was executed. Since the LLC is not a party […]
Landlord/Tenant – Commercial Lease – High Point Furniture Market – Relocation Provision
Jiangmen Kinwai Furniture Decoration Co. v. IHFC Properties, LLC (Lawyers Weekly No. 15-03-1043, 16 pp.) (Catherine Eagles, J.) 1:14-cv-00689; M.D.N.C. Holding: The parties’ furniture showroom lease gave the defendant-landlord broad discretion to relocate the plaintiff-tenant, and the tenant has not shown that the alternative space offered by the landlord was inadequate or that the landlord [&he[...]
Contract — Loan Agreement & Commercial Leases – Tort/Negligence – Corporate Self-Dealing – Civil Practice – Statute of Limitations
Flanders/Precisionaire Corp. v. Bank of New York Mellon Trust Co. (Lawyers Weekly No. 15-15-0396, 25 pp.) (Louis Bledsoe III, J.) 2015 NCBC 33 Holding: A report saying plaintiffs were paying too much in rent was not enough to put the plaintiff-corporations on notice that two of their insiders had engaged in self-dealing. The parties’ cross-motions […]
Real Property — Rule Against Perpetuities – Landlord/Tenant – Commercial Lease – Right of First Refusal
Khwaja v. Khan (Lawyers Weekly No. 15-07-0085, 14 pp.) (Chris Dillon, J.) (Wanda Bryant, J., concurring in the result only) Appealed from Davidson County Superior Court (W. David Lee & Theodore Royster, JJ.) N.C. App. Holding: The right of first refusal in the parties’ commercial lease was not tied to a life in being and […]
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