A master lease structure is often used where a single landlord and a single tenant intend to lease multiple properties. By using a master lease structure to cover multiple properties as opposed to individual leases, the parties can streamline administration of a large-scale portfolio of properties. However, master lease severance comes with a series of complications.
What are the limits of efforts to rescind or reform an agreement based upon a mistake? Can a mere "Scrivener's Error" during drafting result in a wholesale extinguishing of a lease document?
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York recently provided critical guidance on what the court observed as the "psychedelic confusion" surrounding the intersection of Bankruptcy Code §365, governing the assumption and rejection of executory contracts, and Bankruptcy Code §503, governing administrative priority.
In Rockwell v. Despart, the Third Department recently revisited a recurring question: When may a landowner seek judicial removal of a covenant restricting use of her land?
In Rockwell v. Despart, the New York Supreme Court, Third Department, recently revisited a recurring question: When may a landowner seek judicial removal of a covenant restricting use of her land?
The doctrine of part performance can overcome the strictures of the Statute of Frauds when parties enter into unwritten business deals, or into written business deals with unwritten ancillary terms and they do not contemplate all of the possible circumstances that might arise in the course of their dealings.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, some tenants were able to negotiate termination agreements with their landlords. But even though a landlord may agree to terminate a lease to regain control of a defaulting tenant's space without costly and lengthy litigation, typically a defaulting tenant that otherwise has no contractual right to terminate its lease will be in a much weaker bargaining position with respect to the conditions for termination.
Johansson alleges that, in order to generate new subscribers for Disney+, Disney intentionally interfered with her talent agreement with Disney affiliate Marvel Studios for her featured role in Black Widow — and thus allegedly induced Marvel to breach a promise in the Johansson/Marvel agreement for the film to be initially distributed in exclusive "wide theatrical release." Updated Oct. 1 to reflect a confidential settlement reached in the case.
We are only beginning to scratch the surface of the effect on the construction litigation visited on us by COVID-19-related impacts. However, the pandemic and its continuing impact has reinforced the importance of planning for the unexpected — and undefined — when negotiating construction contracts.
Since the pandemic began, lawyers have been using the coronavirus to justify nonpayment of rent, construction delays and even termination of labor contracts. But the prospect of litigating a contract cancellation based on force majeure is still so fraught with peril that many breach-of-contract disputes end in an amicable resolution.
