Opinion ID: 705929
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Breach of Lease Claim

Text: 38 Plaintiffs also allege that Jewel has breached paragraph 28 of the lease by using the premises solely for the purpose of keeping the anchor space dark. Paragraph 28 provides that the lessee shall use the leased premise only for operation of a grocery supermarket. The plaintiffs state that the gist of [our] argument concerning paragraph 28 is that Jewel is using the premises to stifle competition and not to operate a grocery supermarket. Reply Br. at 21. This argument is, at best, an extension of plaintiffs' argument that Jewel has breached the lease by using the premises for an unlawful purpose, a claim which is still pending in the district court. 11 39 Paragraph 28 is a typical use-restriction provision delineating the permissible uses of the leased premises. We do not believe paragraph 28 supports plaintiff's claim that a use-restriction as to the sale of groceries restricts the defendants from leaving the store vacant. Allowing a store to remain vacant is different from opening a hardware or music store on the leased premises, and we believe it is the latter and not the former that paragraph 28 was meant to address.