Breach of Commercial Lease and Appeal

Goal:

Client needed to defend Circuit City’s lawsuit and hold Circuit City liable for all damages flowing from its breach of lease.

Success:

Joseph Suntum successfully tried the case, which resulted in a jury verdict finding that Circuit City breached its lease and that the client acted reasonably in rejecting the proposed subtenant. (Postscript: the proposed subtenant later went bankrupt validating the client’s judgment that it was not credit worthy.) The court entered judgment in favor of our client for the damages accrued through trial and an order that Circuit City continue to pay an amount equal to its rent until an adequate new tenant could be located. The client ultimately contracted with Food Lion grocery to become the new anchor tenant for the shopping center, but at a lower rent than Circuit City had paid. In addition, Food Lion would require more space than was leased Circuit City, which required that the client demolish the Circuit City improvement as well as adjacent space in order to accommodate Food Lion’s tenancy. Circuit City alleged that the demolition of the physical improvement it once leased caused Circuit City to be relieved of its judgment obligation. The circuit court agreed. Joseph Suntum successfully appealed the circuit court’s ruling to Maryland’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, which reinstated the judgment requiring Circuit City to pay all of the millions of dollars of damages it caused.