As we were reading a very recent decision issued by the Supreme Court of Alabama, we once again were preparing to write how wasteful it was for the parties to litigate the issues raised. This urge happens often enough that Ruminations has considered preparing “boilerplate” language to be inserted at the end of many blog postings. Then we got to the concurring opinion. It could apply to many of the “manufactured” disputes created by one party or the other and supported by their advocates. Though the following words by that concurring justice give away part of the story we are going to tell, its content and tone resonate with Ruminations. We suggest that we all step back each time issues like these arise and reconsider our thoughts about litigating them.
As Set Forth On Exhibit A (Not Actually) Attached Hereto
How Do You Spell Trouble? ROFR, ROFO, ROLO, ROFN? All?
Last week we expressed the belief that very few tenants are “entitled” to receive a Right of First Refusal (First Offer, Last Offer, First Notice) and that very few landlords should give in when any of these are requested. We also wrote that we didn’t think any deals would go south if the landlord said, “No.” Well, that’s the ideal world as seen by Ruminations. But, we also live in the real world. Sometimes leases give tenants one of those rights.
On August 4, 2013, in our 125th blog posting (this is our 383rd), we used this title: “What Were You Thinking? Was It a ROFO, ROFN, ROFR or ROLO?” Those who weren’t with us five years ago and those with sieve-like memories similar to our own, may want to visit that posting. That’s easy – just click: HERE.
The biggest issue with a landlord giving one of these rights to its tenant is not a legal one; it is not a business one; it is much simpler. Most landlords forget they’ve given them. It’s one thing to know that you’ve got to look at a lease to find its notice requirements. That’s a regularly occurring event and landlords develop the habit to do so. It’s the same thing when a landlord wants to send out a default notice. It knows that every lease is a little different and every lease has such provisions. So, it becomes a habit to look. [Read more…]
Just Say No To The Request For A ROFR [What Say?]
A contract, such as a lease, gives one party, say a tenant, a right it would not have without the agreement. That means the other party, in the case of our example – the landlord, has an obligation it would not otherwise have had. That’s the essence of a contract – an exchange of rights for obligations or duties. Think about it, without some kind of enforceable agreement, a lease (oral or written), a license agreement or a use and occupancy agreement, what right would a tenant have to possess its premises and what obligation would the owner have to allow it?
In real property law, a lease is a conveyance of an interest in real property just like an ordinary deed is a conveyance of an interest in real property. The difference is that an ordinary deed, one that conveys what the law calls a “fee simple interest,” gives the “grantee” the entire “bundle of rights” that come with ownership. A lease gives the grantee (the “tenant”) an “estate for years.” An estate for years has a “termination date,” a date upon which the tenant loses the right to remain in the premises. Basically, the tenant does not get any “ownership” rights after that date. [Read more…]
Did They Guaranty The Lease For Its Extended Term?
We’ve written about guaranties before, most directly in postings that can be seen by clicking: HERE and HERE. Today, we drill down to the enforceability of a lease guaranty after the lease has been modified, but without notice to or knowledge of the guarantor. Today’s Ruminating is informed by a January, 2018 unpublished opinion from the Maryland Court of Special Appeals. [Readable by clicking: HERE.]
A church’s lease was guaranteed by its Pastor, his wife, and six other church members. The church defaulted and its landlord sued for the remaining rent under a three-year extension properly signed by the Pastor on behalf of the church, but without the knowledge of the six church members. In fact, they didn’t even have a hint that the lease had been extended despite each being some form of “leader” in the church, though those roles appeared to be substantially ceremonial. Their only financial connection to the church was their obligation to tithe to it. The lower court described them as “commercially” unsophisticated.
The lease extension was by way of amendment. The lease did not have an extension option. The additional three-year term was related to a rent reduction sought by the Pastor and agreed-to by the landlord. The church performed until it didn’t with eight months to go in the lease’s term. At that time, by agreement with its landlord, the church vacated its premises. [Read more…]
Can A Tenant Walk Out And Lawfully Stop Paying Rent When It Tires Of The Space?
A restaurant’s lease permitted leasehold mortgages with the following proviso:
Tenant shall have the right … to encumber Tenant’s leasehold interest under this Lease … through a Mortgage (`Leasehold Mortgage’) with an institutional lender…. Landlord agrees that in the event the Leasehold Mortgagee succeeds to Tenant’s interest under this Lease (in which event it shall assume all of Tenant’s obligations under this Lease), Landlord shall, at the time of such succession, recognize such mortgagee, trustee or lender as the then Tenant under this Lease upon the same terms and conditions contained in this Lease and for the then unexpired portion of the Term.
Any such leasehold lender had the right under the lease to take over the tenant-borrower’s leasehold interest through a foreclosure. [Read more…]
Luddites Unite – Artificial Intelligence Will Replace Us
We’ve been thinking about artificial intelligence applications and how they might change, even transform, the way we do our business. Then, we heard an interesting story on public radio. It was about a Southern California manufacturer of sex dolls who was introducing models incorporating artificial intelligence. For reasons quite obvious, the story didn’t get very deep into the details, but we learned that these new models were designed to figure out what their owners wanted and to respond appropriately.
We thought this application to be quite amazing in that here was a business way ahead of our own. Artificial intelligence is being used to read medical images with better results than even experienced radiologists achieve. It is being used to screen job applicants, much, much faster than humans doing so and with more satisfactory outcomes. Artificial intelligence is at the heart of visual recognition, allowing machines to replace people in manufacturing operations. It is used to write newspaper articles, such as those reporting sporting events. The list could go on and on. But, what it won’t include is negotiating agreements such as leases. That is, not yet.
Agreements such as leases are not zero-sum games. Though the parties exchange things of equal value, one needs to ask, “Value to whom?” Basically, when someone gets an item of value to them worth, say, $100, the other person may be giving up something worth only $60 to them. Someone may have two widgets and only need one. The duplicate widget isn’t very valuable to that person. A second person may need a widget and have two gizmos, but only need one. In each case, one widget or gizmo has a utility value of $100, but a duplicate one has a utility value of $60. Thus, if the parties trade widget for gizmo, each gives up $60 of value and gets $100 of value in return. That trade creates $200 of value out of $120 of value – a good deal for each trader. [Read more…]
Pie-Eyed Romanticism And Negotiating Agreements
Do you believe in levitation? Can a table really rise on its own, without trickery? Is it possible? Yes. Is it probable? No.
A table, regardless of the material used to construct it, is a collection of atoms, arranged in molecules, etc. Briefly stated, atoms vibrate. They vibrate in all directions. No single atom has enough energy to move the table, and the directions in which the countless atoms in a table vibrate cancel each other out but for a proportionately very small number without enough oomph to move anything. Basically, their movement is random. But, it is possible that at any one moment, all of those atoms or at least a meaningful number will be moving upward at the same time and the table will lift off the ground. Possible, but not probable. Ruminations suggests that no reader stay up all night watching a table to see it rise on its own. [Read more…]
Waiving Non-Waiver Provisions By Waiving Such Provisions (Again)
We’ve written about the legal concept of “waiver” too many times to warrant furnishing any links to earlier blog postings. To sum it up succinctly, we’ll start with an example of a pretty familiar provision found in most agreements such as leases and mortgages (to keep us within the real property family). It reads as follows:
All waivers must be in writing and signed by the waiving party. A party’s failure to enforce any provisions of this [lease] will not be a waiver and will not estop that party from enforcing that provision or any other provision of this [lease] in the future.
If an English-speaking visitor arrived from outer space and, after completing its abduction of one or more of the world’s inhabitants, read this, it would think there could be no waiver if it were not given in writing. It would be wrong. Likewise, native-born earthlings should always have some doubt as to whether to rely solely on the ability to read. Context (and established law) matter.
Generally speaking, at least under United States jurisprudence, the Texas Supreme Court, in a clarifying (for Texas) May 12, 2017 decision, wrote the following: [Read more…]
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