Tall Towers Centre (“TTC”) Is An Entirely New, Large, Sprawling Shopping Mall: Equity And Trusts Law Essay
Question 1
Tall Towers Centre (“TTC”) is an entirely new, large, sprawling shopping mall which is managed by Tall Towers Centre Ltd Management (“TTC Management”). TTC is located in EU-Ville. TTC Management leased the anchor tenant space (i.e., the largest, and most central space in the ground floor of the tallest tower) to Compu-Global-Hyper-Mega-Net Corporation (“CGH”). It was a 5-year lease. The rent was €100,000 per year. The lease was in writing, signed by both parties, valid, and enforceable.
The lease included a covenant: CGH would remain open for business 6 days a week during normal business hours. CGH is a high- speed internet company. CGH’s many customers and employees are dispersed all over the world and deal with one another only by telephone. CGH has only 2 employees (both repairpersons) at TTC, where CGH merely operates a large hub (“the EU-Ville Hub”) of high-speed computer servers. The EU-Ville Hub was just one hub in CGH’s worldwide network of 100 hubs.
| CGH was TTC Management’s first tenant. Over the course of the year following the start of CGH’s lease, TTC Management signed leases with many other tenants. During negotiations with these other prospective tenants, TTC Management notified them that the anchor tenant space had been leased to CGH for 5 years. These other tenants were in retail. By the end of that first year, CGH determined that its worldwide operations were profitable, and were making about €10,000,000 per year, but 10 of its individual hubs, including the EU-Ville Hub, were running at a small loss: i.e., less than €1,000 per hub per year. This information was not secret. It appeared in CGH’s annual reports for stockholders. TTC Management’s President, Dominic Deeds, read those reports, and he contacted CGH to ask if TTC Management could supply any additional services to make its premises more attractive and profitable for CGH. CGH’s |
| President, Anthony Soprano, responded: he sent a signed letter, on his personal stationery, indicating that all was well and that CGH even had some thoughts to renew the lease at the end |
| of the remaining 4 years. Simply put, Soprano’s claims were not true. Indeed, CGH was moving forward with internal plans to close all 10 unprofitable hubs. One week later, a CGH manager, |
| acting in conformity with company policy sent TTC Management a written notice of termination of the lease and removed all their servers. At this juncture, 4 years remained on CGH’s lease.Dominic and Anthony had long-standing social ties. Dominic’s wife and Anthony’s wife were sisters. Dominic and Anthony attended the same college; they both served in the same army unit during the last war; and, now, they both live on the same posh street. |
Answer these questions:
- Advice TTC Management on the legal principles applicable, and in particular, on the likelihood of TTC Management’s being granted a damages remedy (including the scope of any damages) and injunctive relief (including specific performance). Your discussion of injunctive relief should not consider Mareva, Anton Piller, and Bayer injunctions. Your discussion of injunctive relief should consider relief at the ex parte stage, the preliminary stage, and the final or permanent stage.
- Explain in detail why (or why not) each type of relief is likely to be awarded, and support your answers with relevant case law, doctrine, and policy.
- Advice TTC Management how long it can wait before seeking damages and injunctive relief, and support your answers.
