A recent case weighed the extent to which a purchaser was able to negotiate terms when exercising a purchase of property under an option in a lease. The litigation began when, after the tenant/buyer exercised its purchase...more
10/11/2022
/ Appeals ,
Appellate Courts ,
Breach of Contract ,
Buyers ,
Commercial Litigation ,
Commercial Real Estate Contracts ,
Contract Terms ,
Florida ,
Landlords ,
Materiality ,
Option Contracts ,
Purchase Agreement ,
Real Estate Transactions ,
Sellers ,
Tenants
In a recent decision, the Second District Court of Appeal indirectly addressed an issue that comes up from time to time in landlord-tenant litigation: whether the landlord must produce in discovery documents relating to other...more
In a Florida commercial eviction, by statute where there is a court order requiring the tenant to pay rent into the court registry during the lawsuit and the tenant fails to pay, the tenant is considered to have waived its...more
By refusing to hear an appeal of a decision by a Florida appellate court, the US Supreme Court effectively sided with a developer who won a multi-million judgment against someone who tried to undermine the developer’s...more
1/28/2021
/ Appeals ,
Appellate Courts ,
Construction Disputes ,
Construction Project ,
Environmental Claims ,
Land Developers ,
Real Estate Development ,
Risk Factors ,
SCOTUS ,
Settlement ,
State and Local Government
We previously wrote about a case in which a Florida appellate court strictly applied the statute requiring a commercial tenant to pay rent into the court registry during an eviction proceeding. The appellate court noted that...more
1/19/2021
/ Appellate Courts ,
Commercial Property Owners ,
Commercial Tenants ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Eviction ,
Judges ,
Landlords ,
Late Payments ,
Rent ,
State and Local Government ,
State Courts
Under a particular Florida statute, in a commercial eviction, where there is a court order requiring the tenant to pay rent into the court registry during the lawsuit and the tenant fails to pay, the tenant is considered to...more
12/2/2020
/ Business Litigation ,
Commercial Leases ,
Commercial Tenants ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Eviction ,
Failure To Pay ,
Florida ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Popular ,
Rent ,
Rental Property ,
Right to Possession ,
Waiver of Rights
It’s beyond the scope of this blog to predict where the commercial real estate market is heading, but there are those who have predicted a downturn. If that turns out to be right, there may be more loans than usual going into...more
Much has been written about commercial real estate in a post-Covid world. As real estate users consider how Covid will change their space needs, they should also consider what provisions will serve them in future...more
9/24/2020
/ Business Interruption ,
Commercial Leases ,
Commercial Property Owners ,
Commercial Tenants ,
Contract Terms ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Force Majeure Clause ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Landlords ,
Rent ,
Rental Property ,
Tenants
Due to COVID-19, parties to commercial contracts are invoking force majeure clauses. Chances are, parties to Florida real estate contracts didn’t give much thought to a force majeure clause when they drafted their agreement,...more
If you asked most commercial landlords what keeps them up at night, they probably wouldn’t say that they worry about their tenants committing trademark infringement. Granted, trademark infringement is not likely to be an...more
8/14/2019
/ Appeals ,
Commercial Tenants ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Counterfeiting ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Landlords ,
Liability ,
Shopping Centers ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks
Another new commercial lease case, another instance of drafting being the deciding factor. We’ve looked at cases where drafting affected guaranties, exculpatory clauses, remedies, and how to calculate renewal rent. To be...more
A common theme of the cases and issues discussed in this blog is that document drafting is at the root of many commercial real estate disputes....more
It’s common for a commercial loan to include an “assignment of rents,” by which the borrower assigns to its lender the rents it gets from the property securing the loan. In Florida, there’s a statute that governs how an...more
Many of the topics we cover in this space ultimately come down to problems in drafting. Of course, these drafting issues aren’t apparent when the parties execute the lease, contract, or other document....more
All too often commercial parties sign contracts without paying much attention to the “boilerplate” provisions. And all too often that causes a problem for one of the parties. ...more
At the end of May, I wrote a post about new legislation in Florida intended to help property owners fight Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) lawsuits. As discussed in more detail in the prior post, the bill allows...more
Commercial leases often give the landlord the right to accelerate rent through the end of the lease term when the tenant defaults. Acceleration clauses do not usually cause too much controversy in litigation, but there is...more
Help may be on the way for property owners sued for alleged violations of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”).
As covered in a prior post, over the last couple of years, Florida has seen a big...more
5/31/2017
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Disability ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Florida ,
Pending Legislation ,
Property Owners ,
Public Access Laws ,
Public Accommodation ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Site Remediation ,
Title III
For one Miami-Dade County shopping center owner, the answer is now yes, but only after a ruling from Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal in Garcia v. Dadeland Station Associates, Ltd. In 2015 that owner found itself...more
Over the last couple of years, Florida has seen a proliferation of lawsuits alleging violations of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). Many of the cases are filed by “serial” filers – plaintiffs that...more
2/20/2017
/ Accessibility Rules ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Commercial Real Estate Market ,
Disability ,
Disability Access Claims ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Florida ,
Property Owners ,
Public Accommodation ,
Title III
A Florida landlord recently learned that “self-help” is not allowed for evicting a tenant, even if the parties’ lease says it is.
In Palm Beach Florida Hotel and Office Building Limited Partnership v. Nantucket...more
Many types of contracts require the parties to submit their disputes to arbitration. For example, arbitration clauses are common in consumer agreements, such as car leases and gym memberships. While a consumer can negotiate...more
It’s bad enough having to call your real estate litigator. But it’s worse when he or she tells you that your lease is missing some critical provision that would help you in your current dispute. Every commercial lease is...more
When the tenant’s business is made illegal during the term of the lease, the tenant’s business is likely to disappear altogether, leading to a likely default. What that means for the landlord and tenant may come down to...more
With proposed property tax assessments being mailed next month (and final bills being mailed in November), it’s almost the time of year where property owners think about challenging their assessments. Taxpayers must remember...more