Case Name: Irene SMITH v. Dennis I. SMITH, Hugh C. Morton, d/b/a Brookway Plaza Shopping Center
Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Mississippi
Decision Date: 1979-10-10
Citations: 375 So. 2d 1041
Docket Number: No. 51353
Parties: Irene SMITH v. Dennis I. SMITH, Hugh C. Morton, d/b/a Brookway Plaza Shopping Center.
Judges: Before SUGG, WALKER and COFER, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 375
Pages: 1041–1044

Head Matter:
Irene SMITH v. Dennis I. SMITH, Hugh C. Morton, d/b/a Brookway Plaza Shopping Center.
No. 51353.
Supreme Court of Mississippi.
Oct. 10, 1979.
Chill, Chill & Dove, Bernard W. N. Chill, Sr., Bernard W. N. Chill, Jr., Jackson, for appellant.
Wise, Carter, Child, Steen & Caraway, Margaret A. Hegman, Richard D. Gamblin, Jackson, for appellee.
Before SUGG, WALKER and COFER, JJ.

Opinion:
COFER, Justice,
for the Court:
Mrs. Irene Smith has appealed from the action of the Circuit Court of Lincoln County in sustaining a plea in bar in favor of appellees Dennis I. Smith and Hugh C. Morton, under circumstances presently to be noticed.
Appellees, as lessors, had entered into a lease agreement with appellant's assignors for commercial occupancy of certain property in a shopping center, the lease to be for five years and with an option by the lessees-assignees to renew the lease for another five years. The lease contained a restriction on its assignment, regardless of which the original lessees assigned their rights to appellant. (Questions as to the effect of this undertaken assignment and appellant's status thereunder are among the issues to be resolved if the case is reached on the declaration and answer).
At a time after the assignment, the roof of the building began to leak, and appellant notified appellees thereof and requested that the roof be repaired, and their failure to do so resulted in substantial damages to merchandise she had for retail sale in the store. She claimed $15,248.02 in damages to her merchandise, $500 for damages to other property in the store, and $1,000 as cost of her removal from the premises on orders of the appellees before the end of the contract term, these orders resulting from her persistent requests that the roof be repaired. These three items of damages, aggregating $16,724.02, were the extent of the recovery she sought.
The lease agreement contains these two material clauses:
Lessors shall maintain and keep in a tenantable condition the roofing and foundation of the building located on the hereinabove described premises and the exterior walls. All other maintenance, repairs or remodeling, of any kind or character shall be made by Lessees at their own expense; however, no such repairs, alterations, or remodeling shall be made without prior written permission of. Lessors. It is further agreed that Lessees shall assume the responsibility of complete interior maintenance of said building,
and
It is agreed that Lessors shall not be liable or responsible in any way for any damages to persons or property sustained in or about the demised premises during the term of this lease or any renewal thereof regardless of how same may be caused, and Lessees at all times, agree to indemnify and save harmless Lessors from all losses, damages, liabilities and expenses for any damage to person or property sustained in or about said demised premises during the term of this lease or any renewal thereof.
Lessors incorporated in their amended answer a special plea in bar setting up the waiver of damages clause as a complete defense to appellant's declaration. The matter in this plea, being "clearly distinct and readily separable" and going to the entire cause of action [Mississippi Code Annotated, section 11-7-59 (1972)], was heard in advance and was sustained by the court.
The court took note of the fact that exculpatory clauses such as here under consideration are not violative of public policy in this state, and that the clause is not an unreasonable exercise of lessors' right to contract a limitation on the extent of their damages.
The exculpatory and indemnity provision of the lease was but a division of the risk involved, fully understandable and advisable when the landlord reserves no control over the type and value of the inventory of the tenant. Not only was this clause the lessors' contract, but it was also the contract of the lessees (and of appellant, their successor).
This contract is unaffected by any public interest. There is no evidence of unequal bargaining power or of any overreaching by the lessors-appellees. There exists no problem as to the validity of the clause. Swisscraft Novelty Co., Inc. v. Alad Realty Corp., 113 N.J.Super. 416, 274 A.2d 59 (1971).
It appears from the record that, over the period from the beginning of the leak until she was ordered to remove her property from the building, appellant took no steps to remedy the defective condition of the roof, other than by protests to appellees, and suffered her property and inventory to be exposed to the water from the roof.
The lower court pointed out, and we agree, that appellant could have sought specific performance of appellees' contract. We also consider that there may have been other direct damages, such as diminution in rental value, but are of the view that the exculpatory clause of the contract was properly held a bar to appellant's recovery of the damages prayed.
We are of the opinion that the lower court decided the case correctly, and should be affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
SMITH, P. J., and WALKER, BROOM and LEE, JJ., concur.
SUGG, J., ROBERTSON, P. J., and BOWLING, J., dissent.
PATTERSON, C. J., took no part.