Warmack v. Merchants Nat. Bank of Fort Smith

Darrell Hickman, Justice.

The questions raised in this appeal concern a lease provision which provides that the tenant cannot sublet the premises without the landlord’s permission. The chancellor held that Arkansas law implies that consent to sublet cannot be unreasonably withheld and that the landlord so acted in this case. We disagree and reverse the decree.

The parties are the landlord-owner of the Central Mall, a large shopping complex in Fort Smith, and the tenant-Merchants National Bank of Fort Smith. A detailed and lengthy lease agreement was signed by the parties in 1969. Under this…