Opinion ID: 186311
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Prior Breach of Lease

Text: 21 Finally, O'Donnell claims any breach of his obligations under the sublease or the guaranty is excused because Mick's itself first breached its implied obligation under the sublease to cooperate with BOD in transferring the restaurant's liquor license into BOD's name. O'Donnell contends that, by failing to pay taxes owed to the District of Columbia for a period preceding the sublease term, Mick's impeded BOD's ability to effect the transfer in breach of this implied obligation. We reject O'Donnell's prior breach theory which, as the district court observed, rests on an attenuated chain of events. Summary J. Dec. at 5. 22 It is true that the sublease required BOD to transfer the liquor license to its own name by May 31, 1998, after which time, if it had not, Mick's had the option, in its sole and absolute discretion, to cancel th[e] Sublease by sending written notice to Sublessee no later than June 7, 1998 in which event th[e] Sublease shall be cancelled. Sublease at 4, § 5B. If no timely notice was sent, BOD was to continue its efforts to change the license name while retaining the right to continue to operate under Sublessor's Alcoholic Beverage License, subject to Mick's' continuing option to cancel upon 30 days' notice. Id. We find no breach, however, of any obligation on the part of Mick's to assist in securing the license change. As BOD acknowledges, the sublease imposes no such express obligation on Mick's. Further Mick's took no affirmative step to prevent BOD from obtaining the license in its own name in breach of an implied obligation. 7 See R. A. Weaver & Assocs. v. Haas & Haynie Corp., 663 F.2d 168, 177 n. 67 (D.C.Cir.1980) (The prohibition against active interference is an implied contractual term. (emphasis added; citing Karrick v. Rosslyn Steel & Cement Co., 25 F.2d 216, 217-18 (1928); Minmar Builders Inc. v. Beltway Excavators, Inc., 246 A.2d 784, 787 (D.C.App.1968); Matthew A. Welch & Sons, Inc. v. Bird, 193 A.2d 736, 738 (D.C.Mun.App.1963); Horlick v. Wright, 104 A.2d 825, 827 (D.C.Mun.App.1954))). 23