There
is an interesting lease discussion in
a recent case alleged breach of a lease to operate a restaurant at the
Charlotte Inn on Martha's Vineyard. See Edgartown Art Gallery, Inc. v. Il
Tesoro, Inc., CIV.A. 12-11549-JLT, 2013 WL 628655 (D. Mass. Feb. 19, 2013).
The defendant operated a restaurant under a one year written lease (with an
option to renew for four more years) with the Edgartown Art Gallery (“EAG”). I
somehow missed eating at “Il Tosoro at the Terrace” during the few years it was
in existence.
After the first year the tenant did
not renew but continued to operate the restaurant under the terms described in
the lease, and in 2012 the landlord terminated the tenancy. The
plaintiff/landlord brought an action that included claims of 1) breach of
contract; 2) breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing; 3)
breach of personal guaranty; 4) interference with advantageous business
relationships; and 5) violation of Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 93A.
The defendant argued that “…the
Statute of Frauds bars any subsequent oral agreement between the parties
because the original lease involved real property and contemplated a four-year
renewal period. Thus, Defendants argue, EAG's claims predicated on the
existence of the lease—breach of contract, implied covenant of good faith and
fair dealing, and personal guaranty—must fail.”
However,
Judge Tauro found that “EAG has sufficiently alleged that upon expiration of
the lease, Il Tesoro became a tenant at will subject to the same terms as the original
lease. A holdover tenant becomes a tenant at sufferance, ‘[b]ut a tenancy at
sufferance is readily changed into a tenancy at will by express or implied
agreement of the parties. Whether there has been such agreement is, of course,
commonly an issue of fact.’ (citation omitted) The tenant at will holds the
premises ‘according to the terms of the written lease, in the absence of a new
agreement,” Boudreau v. Johnson, 241 Mass. 12,
134 N.E. 359, 361 (Mass.1922). ‘the only difference being that, instead of
being in under a written lease and for a fixed term, they [are] in by parole
and as tenants at will.’ Id, quoting Walker Ice Co. v. Am. Steel &
Wire Co.,
185 Mass. 463, 70 N.E. 937, 939 (Mass.1904). ”
The
defendant/tenant’s motion to dismiss was denied. I have no idea how the case
ended up in Federal Court.
PAUL
F. ALPHEN, ESQUIRE
BALAS,
ALPHEN & SANTOS, P.C.
