Carmania Corp. v. Kalati

opinion of the court

Lewis R. Friedman, J.

These two cases, consolidated for the purposes of trial, present an important question, not previously decided, of interpretation of one of the form leases commonly used in commercial leasing transactions.

The facts are relatively simple. The tenant first leased room 802. In 1981 he signed a lease for room 802, which he had previously rented, and also, in a separate document, leased room 804. The space, used as a jewelry business, is located in a large jewelry district building. All of the leases were on the Real Estate Board of New York, Inc., form…