The First Department remands a commercial lease arbitration award back to the arbitrators where the panel determined liability for unpaid rent but left open the effect of the tenant’s surrender, whether future rent obligations survived lease termination, and how interest and post-award obligations should be calculated.
The Appellate Division, Second Department affirms that a commercial landlord cannot enforce lease provisions requiring a tenant to hold the landlord harmless and bear sole insurance obligations when the landlord’s own negligence caused the tenant’s property damage—here, a roof collapse. General Obligations Law § 5-321 voids the exculpatory clauses.
A cannabis dispensary tenant blocked from opening by a condemned building wins partial summary judgment on breach of contract against the landlord, while claims for corporate veil piercing, good-faith breach, and unjust enrichment are denied.
First Department affirms summary judgment for business buyers, holding that an asset purchase agreement covering ‘leases of personal property and equipment’ did not assume the former tenant’s commercial real estate lease, which required an express assumption under New York contract interpretation principles.