Taylors Coffee Shop, Inc. v. Taylor

Plaintiff lessee brought this declaratory judgment proceeding against its lessor to determine the rights of the parties under a rent escalation clause in the lease. Lessee appeals from the trial court’s decree interpreting the lease in favor of lessor, assigning as errors the court’s finding that the escalation clause is ambiguous and admitting parol evidence of lessor’s intended meaning of the escalation clause. We affirm.

Lessor had operated “Taylor’s Coffee Shop,” adjacent to the University of Oregon campus in Eugene, for several years. In September, 1969, he discontinued the coffee shop…