Opinion ID: 1805152
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Heading: Construction of the ATM Lease

Text: It is a well-established rule of contract construction that any ambiguity in a contract must be construed against the drafter of the contract. Ex parte Palm Harbor Homes, Inc., 798 So.2d 656, 661 (Ala.2001); Birmingham News Co. v. Lynch, 797 So.2d 440, 443 (Ala.2001); Brewbaker Motors, Inc. v. Belser, 776 So.2d 110, 112 (Ala.2000); Strickland v. General Motors Acceptance Corp., 578 So.2d 1275, 1277 (Ala.1991); Lilley v. Gonzales, 417 So.2d 161, 163 (Ala.1982); Alabama-Tennessee Natural Gas Co. v. City of Huntsville, 275 Ala. 184, 153 So.2d 619, 628 (1963). Because SouthTrust drafted the ATM lease, any ambiguity in that lease must be construed against it. Under this rule of construction, the or in the exclusive-use provision should be considered exclusive, acting as a disjunctive conjunction, rather than inclusive. Interpreting the ATM lease most strongly against the drafter, SouthTrust, we construe the ambiguous exclusive-use provision to mean that SouthTrust has the exclusive right during the term of the ATM lease and any renewals of the ATM lease to operate an ATM at Smiths Station Plaza or that SouthTrust has the exclusive right during the term of the ATM lease and any renewals of the ATM lease to operate any other type of banking facility at Smiths Station Plaza; it does not mean, however, that SouthTrust has the exclusive right during the term of the ATM lease and any renewals of the ATM lease to operate both an ATM and any other type of banking facility at Smiths Station Plaza. This construction allows Copeland One to lease the branch bank building to another bank while the ATM lease is in effect. Therefore, the trial court's holding that Copeland One properly entered into a lease pursuant to which PGB would conduct banking activities in the branch bank building at Smiths Station Plaza was not plainly or palpably erroneous. We affirm. AFFIRMED. LYONS, BROWN, JOHNSTONE, and WOODALL, JJ., concur.