SDNY Chooses “Time Approach” to Calculating Lease Termination Damages Collectible Against a Bankrupt Estate
Commercial leases are a critical source of income and financial stability for property owners, but the current evolving economic environment presents many risks. One of the primary concerns is when a tenant falls behind on...more
In dealing with a series of intertwined contracts, the English High Court found that the correct interpretation of a contract meant that an airline had had its obligations to make overdue payments terminated but then...more
Senate Bill 1103 (“SB 1103”), effective January 1, 2025, imposes new requirements on landlords leasing commercial space to certain “qualifying commercial tenants” (“QCT” or “QCTs”). Below is a summary of what you need to...more
Beginning on January 1, 2025, landlords of commercial properties – be they office, industrial or retail, will need to develop new procedures when entering into leases with a newly defined class of tenants, identified as...more
Financial distress persists in the commercial real estate market, raising the prospects that property owners and landlords could seek relief under chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. The Bankruptcy Code contains numerous...more
In its May 22, 2024 non-precedential memorandum decision in Frye v. Penn View Exploration, Inc., 919 WDA 2023 (Pa. Super. Ct. May 22, 2024), the Pennsylvania Superior Court found that an oil and gas lease’s shut-in royalty...more
In a landmark settlement, a property management company and its landlord have agreed to pay a significant sum following allegations of violating the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA). The U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern...more
The commercial real estate market in the United States is undergoing a profound shift as building vacancy increases in most major markets and as trillions of dollars of financing are coming due in 2024....more
Since the early 1900’s, your family has owned a 105 acre farm in Greene County, Pennsylvania. In 2024, you and your siblings sign an oil and gas lease with XYZ Drilling Company. The language in the lease states that it...more
Even landlords who conduct in-depth analyses of tenant credit and financial health will experience some tenants who become financially unstable during the term of the lease. In an environment where replacing tenants can be...more
Let’s assume you own 136 acres in Tioga County. In 2011, you signed a new oil and gas lease with ABC Production (the “2011 Lease”). The 2011 Lease had a five-year primary term which expired in October 2016. In 2014, ABC...more
When a tenant under an unexpired lease of nonresidential real property files a case under chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, both tenant and landlord acquire rights and obligations that may contravene the terms of the lease...more
In Cromwell v. Anadarko E&P Onshore, LLC, 676 S.W. 3d 860 (Tex. App. 2023), the Texas Court of Appeals confirmed the automatic termination of an oil and gas lease, and simultaneously rejected the argument that a forfeiture...more
Morrison Foerster secured a significant victory for its pro bono client, Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness (NMW), obtaining the dismissal of a mining company’s lawsuit that threatened to undo government efforts to...more
In an October 10, 2023, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania dismissed a gas driller’s declaratory judgment lawsuit involving an oil and gas lease in the SWN Production Company, LLC v. Blue...more
The recently filed Hobe Minerals Limited Liability Company v. Bonanza Creek Energy Operating Company, LLC, et al lawsuit in a Colorado trial court challenges whether intermittent cryptocurrency mining can maintain an oil and...more
The North Carolina Court of Appeals this week addressed an important issue involving leases, options to renew, and the North Carolina recordation statutes known as the “Connor Act.” The decision affects anyone who buys or...more
Keara Waldron and Lindsay H. Sklar discuss the decision by the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York in the case of In re Cortlandt Liquidating LLC, which parted with decades of precedent to endorse and apply...more
The United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania’s recent decision in Bootes v. PPP Future Development, Inc., C.A. No. 22-154 (W.D.Pa. March 21, 2023) denying a gas company’s request to dismiss oil...more
On June 13, 2023, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that it had settled an action against a multi-family residential property management company for alleged violations of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (“SCRA”)...more
To prevent landlords under long-term real property leases from reaping a windfall for future rent claims at the expense of other creditors, the Bankruptcy Code caps the amount of a landlord's claim against a debtor-tenant for...more
Since 1993, decisions out of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York consistently adopted the aggregate “rent approach” for calculating lease rejection damages in bankruptcy proceedings. But in...more
The victor in a lawsuit involving a salt water disposal well lease may depend on whether a Texas court treats the lease as being a mineral lease or simply a lease of real estate. That is because Texas law applies different...more
The long moratorium on most evictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the de facto shutdown of the court system for civil matters, caused most California landlords to defer unlawful detainer and related...more
Under Section 101(54) of the bankruptcy code, any means of disposing with an interest in property is considered a transfer, and therefore, under certain circumstances, may be avoided as a preference or fraudulent transfer. In...more