HOLLYWOOD SHOPPING PLAZA, INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION, APPELLANT,
v.
NORMAN SCHUYLER, APPELLEE
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Hollywood Shopping Plaza appealed a summary judgment declaring a guaranty agreement void. The court affirmed, holding that the landlord's material breach of the lease (by leasing competing space) discharged the guarantor from liability under the guaranty.
The court held that the guarantor is released from liability under the guaranty because the landlord's material violation of the lease terms—specifically, leasing space to a competitor in breach of the non-compete covenant—discharged the guarantor from liability.
“The law is well settled that any material violation of the terms of a contract by the person for whose benefit such contract is guaranteed releases the guarantor from liability.”
Establishes the controlling legal principle that a material breach by the person for whose benefit a guaranty is executed discharges the guarantor.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceHollywood Shopping Plaza leased space to Wise Shops, Inc., with a covenant that the landlord would not lease competing space while Wise Shops remained…
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This is an appeal by the defendant Hollywood Shopping Plaza, Inc., from a sum*574mary final decree declaring an instrument ■entitled "Agreement and Guaranty” executed by the plaintiff Norman Schuyler null and void, and releasing him from any liability under said Agreement.
The defendant leased a storeroom located in its shopping center to Wise Shops, ■Inc. The lease provided that while the •tenant was not in default and was the original tenant under the lease, the landlord ■would not lease any other space in the shop•ping center to a store carrying a competing 'line of merchandise. Wise Shops, Inc., assigned its lease to Normdiclc, Inc. No. 3.
'The Assignment and Assumption of Tease provided in part as follows:
“The Assignee hereby assumes the timely and true performance of all of ,the rents, terms, covenants, conditions ■and provisions of the lease hereby assigned; all with the full force and effect as if the Assignee had executed the lease originally as Tenant named therein.”
"The defendant landlord consented to said assignment by its endorsement as follows:
“In consideration of the foregoing ■covenants and agreements of the As-signee and the Assignor to jointly and ■severally guarantee the full and faithful performance of the Lease, the Landlord does hereby consent to the foregoing Assignment and Assumption ■of Lease according to the terms stated therein.”
Some five months after said assignment the plaintiff executed an Agreement and Guaranty whereby he guaranteed to the defendant, its successors and assigns the full performance and observance of all the covenants, conditions and agreements provided in the lease on the subject property. The plaintiff had a financial interest in Norm-dick, Inc. No. 3, the successor tenant. Approximately one year later defendant leased space in its shopping center to a company carrying a line of merchandise directly competing with the line of merchandise carried by the successor tenant in violation of the covenants of the original lease to Wise Shops, Inc.
Motion to Dismiss the complaint was granted' with permission to file amended complaint. The matter was heard .on defendant’s Motion to Dismiss and on plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment, no Answer having been filed. The plaintiff ■filed affidavits in support of the Amended Complaint, and no opposing affidavits were filed by the defendant.
The court denied the defendant’s Motion to Dismiss, and granted the plaintiff’s Motion for Declaratory Summary Decree. The subject matter of this cause can properly be considered on complaint for declaratory decree as provided by Chapter 87, F.S.A., in that there was a bona fide dispute between the parties. Rice v. Fremow, Fla.App.1964, 165 So.2d 447.
The provisions of the Assignment of Lease by which Normdick, Inc. No. 3 assumed the obligation of the assignor Wise Shops, Inc., clearly placed the assignee in the same position as if it had executed the original lease as the original tenant. The consent of the landlord to the Agreement holding both Wise Shops, Inc. and Norm-dick, Inc. No. 3 to full performance of the lease clearly recognized the successor tenant the same as if it were the original tenant. The law is well settled that any material violation of the terms of a contract by the person for whose benefit such contract is guaranteed releases the guarantor from liability. Gato v. Warrington, 1896, 37 Fla. 542, 19 So. 883.
There being no denial of the material allegation that a store carrying competing merchandise was leased to a competitor in violation of the terms of the lease, the court properly found the Agreement and Guaranty executed by the plaintiff Norman Schuyler void, and that there was no genuine issue of material fact for consideration by the Court.
Affirmed.
SHANNON, Acting C. J., and WILL-SON, JESSE H., Associate Judge, concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
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VAN Valkenberg v. Chris Craft Indus., Inc., 252 So. 2d 280 (Fla. 4th DCA 1971)…d 38, under a similar statute. It held that a guaranty agreement was unenforceable by a bank against a guarantor where the agreement was altered without the consent of the guarantor. See also Hollywood Shopping Plaza, Inc. v. Schuyler, Fla.App.1965, 179 So. 2d 573. Here, it cannot be said that the acceptance of payments of 2i/z% instead of the agreed 5% was not a material alteration. Certainly it was adequate to withstand a motion to strike. Without over-laboring the remaining defenses, they appear to have…
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Gilda Rizzi v. Serv. Dev. Corp., 354 So. 2d 898 (Fla. 4th DCA 1978)….” . 38 Am.Jur.2d Guaranty §§ 20, 21 (1968). . 38 Am.Jur.2d Guaranty § 36 (1968). . 38 Am.Jur.2d Guaranty § 81 (1968); See, Anderson v. Trade Winds Enterprises Corp., 241 So. 2d 174 (Fla. 4th DCA 1970); Hollywood Shopping Plaza, Inc. v. Schuyler, 179 So. 2d 573 (Fla. 2d DCA 1965).…
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Equity Title, Inc. v. First Nat'l Bank & Tr., 564 So. 2d 1182 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990)…ertaking by a material alteration, made without his consent, of the original obligation or duty to which the guaranty relates, provided such alternation takes place before his liability is finally settled. Hollywood Shopping Plaza, Inc. v. Schuyler, 179 So. 2d 573 (Fla. 2d DCA 1965), cert. denied, 188 So. 2d 315 (Fla.1966); Gato v. Warrington, 37 Fla. 542, 19 So. 883 (1896); and 38 C.J.S. Guaranty § 72. He also correctly contends that a substantial increase in interest has been recognized as a material altera…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Gato v. Warrington, 37 Fla. 542 (Fla. 1896)
- Edw. Everett Rice v. Fremow, 165 So. 2d 447 (Fla. 2d DCA 1964)