A History Of Success In Complex Litigation

Jefferson County company files lawsuit against property owners

On Behalf of | Jul 9, 2013 | Contract Disputes

Many types of business litigation involve contract disputes between a company and the property owners or managers from whom they lease or rent their business space. Depending on the terms of the contract, it can be up to the property owners to take care of issues with the building or space. Costs for maintenance and repairs may or may not fall to the business owner leasing the space, but he or she could be responsible for a regular maintenance fee.

Lucky Bounce Zone has filed a breach of contract lawsuit in Jefferson County against their landlords, Kimco Dowlen Town Center-II LP, alleging that the company is overcharging them for maintenance fees and for failing to repair the leaky roof of the space they’re leasing. When the owners of Lucky Bounce Zone began leasing the space in 2008, they agreed in their contract that Kimco would take care of the premises’ roofing repairs. They say the roof is still leaking despite the repairs, and Kimco is billing Lucky Bounce Zone for the repair costs as part of the Common Area Maintenance fees.

The bounce zone owners say Kimco has set their fees at an exorbitant level, and are billing them for the property taxes of the entire area, rather than only the space they’re leasing. In addition, they claim the leaky roof has made the premises too dangerous to continue operating their business. They’re asking the court to allow them to terminate their lease with Kimco, or to grant a temporary restraining order to keep the property owners from locking them out of their business for refusing to pay their Common Area Maintenance fees.

Contract disputes can happen in almost any case, but most often they’re the result of unclear contract language or a party failing to honor the contract terms.

Source: The Southeast Texas Record, “Trial over disputed lease agreement reset,” David Yates, July 2, 2013

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