Landlord & Tenant Law

In landlord's action for breach of a commercial lease, both parties appealed from Supreme Court's denial of their respective summary judgment motions. The Appellate Division affirmed, holding that questions of fact remained about the liability of the tenant's principal, and about whether landlord had released the corporate tenant from liability.

The corporate tenant dissolved in 2013. In 2015, landlord and corporate tenant entered into a lease modification agreement. Landlord contended that the modification was not part of the corporate defendant's windup activities, and that the modification entitled landlord to hold the tenant's principal personally liable. Corporate tenant noted that landlord had participated in drafting documents authorizing assignment of the lease to a nonparty assignee. Under the language of the assignment, the assignee assumed all of the tenant's obligations under the lease modification and landlord released tenant's security. Moreover, a 2019 estoppel certificate stated that the lease represented the entire agreement between landlord and the assignee, with no mention of the corporate tenant. Based on these facts, tenant contended that the landlord had impliedly released tenant from its obligations under the lease. Supreme Court disagreed and denied summary judgment to both parties.