Defendant lessee sought review of the judgment

 

Defendant lessee sought review of the judgment of the Superior Court of the City and County of San Francisco (California), which held in favor of plaintiff lessor in an action to recover from the lessee rent for the use of certain personal property according to the terms of a lease. The trial court had sustained the lessor's demurrers to the lessee's answer and counterclaim alleging ambiguity and insufficiency to raise a defense.

California Business Lawyer & Corporate Lawyer, Inc. are Los Angeles lawyers for restaurant business

Overview

The parties contracted for the lease of certain personal property with an option in the lessee to purchase the property for a nominal amount. The lessor filed suit alleging that no payments had been made pursuant to the lease and seeking judgment for the rental amount owing. The trial court entered judgment in favor of the lessor and the lessee appealed. The court affirmed the judgment, holding that the lessee's allegations that the leased property failed to conform to the lessor's warranty of fitness for a particular purpose did not afford the lessee a legal defense for nonpayment under the lease where the lessee failed to allege that he had agreed to purchase the property or that he had informed the lessor of the purpose for which he was obtaining the property. The court reasoned that the lease and purchase provisions were independent of one another and that a breach of one did not excuse the lessee's nonperformance under the other. The court noted that the lessee failed to allege any special damages arising out of the lessor's alleged breach of warranty, and that the law did not presume that the property's value was in any way diminished by virtue of such a breach.

Outcome

The court affirmed the trial court's judgment in favor of the lessor in a claim for unpaid rent pursuant to an agreement with the lessee for the lease of personal property with an option to buy.