Cummings Properties, LLC v. National Communications Corp.

In this case we must determine whether an accelerated rent provision in a commercial lease constitutes an enforceable liquidated damages provision where the tenant’s breach, the failure to pay rent, is deemed by the lease (and agreed by the parties) to be “significant,” but where, on its face, the provision might also apply to breaches of less significance, to which its application would be disproportionate. A judge in the District Court awarded the landlord damages as calculated by the accelerated rent provision, and possession of the leased premises. The Appellate Division affirmed the…