Cengage Advantage Books: Fundamentals of Business Law 9th Edition by Roger LeRoy Miller

Exercise 12

Assignment. Mary Kazery entered into a lease with Courtesy Inns, Inc. The initial term was one year, with a renewal option of twenty years and four subsequent options of ten years each. During the first renewal term, Courtesy assigned its interest in the lease to George Wilkinson. A year later, Kazery transferred her interest in the property to her son, Arnold. Less than a year later, Arnold transferred his interest to his son, Sam, who became the sole owner of the property. No one notified Wilkinson. For the next twenty years, Wilkinson paid the rent to Arnold and renewed the lease by notice to Arnold. At the end of the third term, Wilkinson wrote to Arnold that he was exercising the fourth option. More than ten months later, Sam filed a suit in a Mississippi state court against Wilkinson, claiming that the lease was void because Wilkinson had not given proper notice to renew. Who should have notified Wilkinson that Sam had been assigned Arnold's interest in the property? What effect does the lack of notice have on Wilkinson's discharge of his duties under the lease? Did he give proper notice to renew? Discuss. [ Kazery v. Wilkinson, 52 So.3d 1270 (Miss. App. 2011)]