Commercial Landlord-Tenant—Defendant’s Late Notice of Lease Renewal Excused on Equitable Grounds—Loss of Retailers’ Good Will Could Constitute a Forfeiture
The Appellate Division, First Department explained that “[t]he law generally exacts a high price for failure to comply with the precise language of a contract….” However, “in some situations, principles of equity have softened the often harsh results of common-law rules of strict contract construction. These equitable principles, such as the doctrine of substantial performance, import the concept of fundamental fairness to the context of contract-dispute litigation. One equitable construct that has been used to protect parties from the harsh results of strict contract construction is the principle underlying this appeal, that equity will intervene to avoid a forfeiture.”
