Today, we offer a potpourri of rants: the doctrine of impossibility; good faith and fair dealing; and why did you think you could get away with that?
We’ve written about “impossibility” and “impracticality.” [Take a look at one such posting by clicking: HERE.] Basically, if the conditions are “right” (“the stars are aligned”), a party can get out of a contract if the purpose for which the agreement was reached turns out to be impossible to achieve. In the context of a Florida commercial lease dispute, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit recently summarized a general principle of Florida law as follows:
Where the parties contract for the use of a property which use is not allowed by law, the consideration wholly fails, and the money paid for the contract should be returned and the parties mutually released.
That principle is not unique to Florida law.
The appellate court, in a decision that can be seen by clicking: HERE, tells the following, simple story. A shopping center lease was signed with a tenant wanting to open a tanning salon. The tenant then applied for an “Addition/Alteration Building Permit Application” in order to make needed changes to the space. It was denied. The reason given was that its zoning ordinance did not permit tanning salons at the tenant’s location. The sense one would get from the appellate court’s decision is that the city was probably on shaky ground when using such an excuse for the permit denial. [Read more…]
Print
Recent Comments