Opinion ID: 1284132
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: In 1958 Mercury Investment Co. [Mercury] built a multi-tenant shopping center in Sand Springs, Oklahoma and leased space to F.W. Woolworth Co. [Woolworth] in early 1959. Their agreement, printed on a form drafted by Woolworth, provided for an original term of fifteen years and allowed five successive options, each to extend for five years. Woolworth agreed to pay Mercury an annual minimum rent of $19,350 for the first fourteen years and $17,425 annually for the remainder of the term. The lease also called for additional rent in the form of a percentage of gross receipts. The percentage rent was to be triggered by annual sales in excess of $387,000 for the first fourteen years and $348,500 thereafter. [1] These sales' levels were never reached, and hence no percentage rent was ever paid. Late in 1981 Mercury brought a termination suit for failure of consideration based on Woolworth's alleged breach of an implied covenant diligently to operate its business in such a manner as to generate percentage rentals and to attract customers to the shopping center for the benefit of the other tenants as well. Woolworth sought summary judgment in its favor on two grounds: (a) the landlord's claim relied on inadmissible parol evidence of oral negotiations which occurred prior to the execution of the lease, and (b) the action was barred by the statute of limitations. On review of the summary judgment for Woolworth, the Court of Appeals reversed and remanded the cause for further proceedings. We now reinstate the trial court's summary judgment.
The Court of Appeals held that: (a) because of the interdependent nature of the relationships created among all the tenants by the shopping center's leasing plan, the lease agreement on its face indicates that Woolworth, as an anchor tenant, owes the obligation diligently to pursue its operations in a manner to secure a fair and adequate return to the Lessor; (b) the asserted covenant does not come within the parol evidence rule because it was so clearly within the contemplation of the parties that they deemed it unnecessary to express it; (c) questions of fact remain as to (1) the manner in which Woolworth presently operates its business, and (2) the adequacy of the minimum monthly payment; and (d) in determining whether the minimum monthly payments were intended as adequate rental, the court may look into the circumstances surrounding the inception of and performance under the lease agreement.