Blount v. Denault

The defendants are appealing from a summary judgment favorable to the plaintiffs. The sole issue in this case is the construction of a tax escalation clause, Section 6 in a standard form commercial lease. We are asked to examine the so-called rent adjustment provision, which is set out in the margin,3 and to focus specifically on the phrase “in any one year.”

*525The plaintiffs (the lessees here) leased for a ten-year period, commencing February 1, 1982, certain space in premises at 167 Newbury Street in Boston from the lessors, two of whom are now deceased. On October 28, 1982, the plaintiffs…