Hoefler v. Gallery

This appeal, here by our permission, requires us to decide whether under the circumstances presented a tenant, following a fire which destroyed the leased premises, is entitled to recover from his landlord the amount of rent, paid in advance, for the unexpired portion of the term.

George Gallery leased property which he owned in West Seneca, New York, to Frank Hoefler in June of 1957, for use as a bowling alley. The lease agreement, a printed form, provided, in a typewritten insertion, for a tenancy of one year from August 1, 1957 at an annual rental of $12,000, the full amount of which was…