A divided state appeals panel has ruled that a company could reap a “windfall” of nearly $100,000 in rent for billboard advertising that was canceled eight days after the start of a yearly contract term.
A three-judge majority of the Appellate Division, First Department, ruled in an unsigned opinion that the 15-year rental agreement, which started in 2000, “mandated” that the renter of the billboard within sight of the Long Island Expressway was responsible for the full year’s rent even though that result was “a windfall” to the sign’s owner.
