Lemon Grove Plaza, Inc. v. Willem Jonker
Published: May 17, 2005 | Result Date: Jan. 18, 2005 | Filing Date: Jan. 1, 1900 |Case number: CIV220912 Bench Decision – $261,045
Judge
Court
Ventura Superior
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Defendant
Experts
Plaintiff
Michael Abergel
(technical)
Defendant
Kevin McAtee
(technical)
Facts
Plaintiff Lemon Grove Plaza Inc. owned a shopping center in Oxnard. Defendant Willem Jonker owned a pizza restaurant and was a long-term tenant at plaintiff's shopping center. In November 2000, defendant vacated the shopping center 2+ years before the expiration of the lease. He opened a new restaurant in a shopping center that he built across the street from plaintiff's shopping center. The defendant assigned his lease to a Chinese buffet-style restaurant. The plaintiff claimed it consented to the assignment but reserved all claims against defendant for loss of rent. Before vacating, the defendant paid substantial amounts of percentage rent to plaintiff. After vacating, defendant and/or the assignee paid the base rent due under the lease, but no percentage rent. The Chinese buffet-style restaurant was not successful and no percentage rent was generated.
Settlement Discussions
The plaintiff made a demand of $190,000 plus prejudgment interest; defendant made no offer.
Damages
The plaintiff sought percentage rent of $190,000 for the unexpired term of the lease based on the average percentage rent by the defendant in the prior year. It also requested prejudgment interest, costs and attorney fees. On the cross-complaint, the defendant claimed economic damages of $52,423.
Result
After a two-day bench trial, the court found for the plaintiff on its complaint and awarded it $261,045 ($197,074 economic damages (including prejudgment interest) and $63,971 for costs and attorney fees). It also received a defense verdict on the cross-complaint.
Other Information
The defendant filed a notice of appeal.
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