Opinion ID: 1844249
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Bowdoin Square's Right to Pursue Future Lease Payments

Text: Finally, Bowdoin Square maintains that the trial court erred in dismissing its claim for future rent. Specifically, Bowdoin Square contends that it is entitled to the total amount of lease payments due under the 20-year lease, regardless of whether the payments had accrued before Winn-Dixie terminated the lease. We disagree. As Winn-Dixie correctly asserts, Ala.Code 1975, § 6-5-280, provides that if a contract is severable or if the breaches occur at successive periods during the existence of the contract, such as where money is to be paid in installments, an action will lie for each breach. Leases for periodic rent fall within this category. See Nicrosi v. Roswald, 113 Ala. 592, 21 So. 338, 339 (1897); Dawson v. Haygood, 235 Ala. 648, 180 So. 705, 707 (1938). Each failure to pay an installment when due creates a separate cause of action. Old Southern Life Ins. Co. v. Free, 46 Ala.App. 622, 247 So.2d 379, 382 (1971). Because an action may not be maintained before a cause of action has accrued, Freider v. Leinkauff, 92 Ala. 469, 8 So. 758, 759 (1891), a landlord suing for breach of a lease can recover only rent that has accrued and that remains unpaid. Nicrosi, 113 Ala. at 595, 21 So. at 339. Bowdoin Square cites cases for the proposition that under Alabama law when a tenant abandons its leasehold the landlord may allow the premises to remain vacant and recover rent for the whole term of the lease. McClure v. Daniel, 45 Ala. App. 558, 561-62, 233 So.2d 500, 502 (1970); Locascio v. Barber, 17 Ala.App. 595, 87 So. 703 (1920). These cases are consistent with the above principles. Upon a showing of abandonment of the premises by the tenant, the landlord may recover the whole lease payment, either by suing at the end of the lease term when all of the lease payments have accrued, or it may bring a separate action for each missed payment as it accrues. See Ryals v. Laney, 338 So.2d 413, 415-16 (Ala.Civ. App.1976) (holding that upon abandonment by lessee, landlord was entitled to all accrued rental payments). Furthermore, the lease at issue does not contain an acceleration clause. As a result, we hold that the trial court was correct in not allowing Bowdoin Square's claim for future rent.