Opinion ID: 2383641
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Validity of the Lease.

Text: The lease negotiated by Prior Landlord and Tenant was a contract. See, e.g., Management Partnership, Inc. v. Crumlin, 423 A.2d 939, 941 (D.C.1980). Accordingly, the issues before us are governed by the substantive rules of contract law. Id. Here, the judgment of the trial court rests primarily on the judge's determination that there was no enforceable contract because there had not been a meeting of the minds. In reviewing that determination, we must sustain the judge's evidentiary findings unless they are clearly erroneous, see Super.Ct.Civ.R. 52(a), but we review his legal conclusions de novo. American Bldg. Maintenance. Co. v. L'Enfant Plaza Properties, Inc., 655 A.2d 858, 861 (D.C.1995). In this case, the question whether the lease is enforceable turns largely on the legal conclusions to be drawn from undisputed facts. The trial judge apparently believed that the lease was invalid because the parties to it, or at least Tenant, subjectively intended Section 2.01 of the lease to apply only to de minimis adjustments of the square footage on which the rent was to be based. [2] The judge cited no authority in support of this position, and we know of none. It is, of course, the general rule that one who signs a contract has a duty to read it and [that he] is obligated according to its terms. Hollywood Credit Clothing Co. v. Gibson, 188 A.2d 348, 349 & n. 1 (D.C.1963) (citing 17 C.J.S. Contracts § 137 (1963)). In the absence of fraud or its equivalent, one is obligated by his contract, though signed without knowledge of its terms. Saylor v. Handley Motor Co., 169 A.2d 683, 685 (D.C. 1961). It is not enough to avoid a contract that one party signed it believing it did not contain what was plainly expressed therein. Spain v. Fuston, 242 S.W.2d 892, 894 (Tex. Civ.App.1951). In Howard Univ. v. Best, 484 A.2d 958 (D.C.1984), we stated that [t]his court adheres to the objective law of contracts, whereby the written language embodying the terms of an agreement will govern the rights and liabilities of the parties, irrespective of the intent of the parties at the time they entered the contract, unless the written language is not susceptible of a clear and definite undertaking, or unless there is fraud, duress or mutual mistake. (Citations and internal quotation marks omitted). The only intent of the parties to a contract which is essential, is an intent to say the words and do the acts which constitute their manifestation of assent. Ray v. William G. Eurice & Bros., 201 Md. 115, 93 A.2d 272, 278 (1952) (quoting Samuel Williston, WILLISTON ON CONTRACTS § 21 (Rev.Ed.)). Eighty-four years ago, in Hotchkiss v. National City Bank, 200 F. 287 (S.D.N.Y.1911), aff'd sub nom. Ernst v. Mechanics' & Metals' Nat'l Bank of City of N.Y., 201 F. 664 (2d Cir.1912), aff'd, 231 U.S. 50, 34 S.Ct. 20, 58 L.Ed. 115 (1913), Judge Learned Hand, then a United States District Judge, articulated the applicable principles in his own special way: A contract has, strictly speaking, nothing to do with the personal, or individual intent of the parties. A contract is an obligation attached by the mere force of law to certain acts of the parties, usually words, which ordinarily accompany and represent a known intent. If, however, it were proved by twenty bishops that either party, when he used the words, intended something else than the usual meaning which the law imposes upon them, he would still be held, unless there were some mutual mistake, or something else of the sort. Id. at 293; accord Ray, supra, 93 A.2d at 278 (quoting Hotchkiss ). A party's claimed intent is immaterial, where it has agreed in writing to a clearly expressed and unambiguous intent to the contrary. Ray, supra, 93 A.2d at 278. To paraphrase the Court of Appeals of Maryland, [i]t does not lie in the mouth of [Tenant] to say that it intended to [agree to § 2.01 of the lease only if it meant de minimis ]. Ray, supra, 93 A.2d at 278. In the present case, the minds of the contracting parties met sufficiently when, after extensive negotiations, they agreed to the terms of the lease as written. No other meeting of the minds was required. The present case may usefully be compared with Groner v. Townhouse Realty, Inc., 235 A.2d 324 (D.C.1967). In Groner, the tenant agreed to lease the second floor of the landlord's commercial building for $45 per month. During the term of the lease, the tenant began to use the first floor as well. The landlord advised the tenant that, because the tenant was occupying two floors, the monthly rent would be doubled to $90. The tenant did not respond to this proposal, but nevertheless continued to use the first floor. The trial judge held that the tenant had agreed to the increase in rent by failing to object to it. This court, however, reversed, because [w]here there has been no meeting of the minds there is no contract. If a landlord insists on one rate of rental and the tenant insists on another, there is no meeting of the minds. Id. at 325 (quoting Welk v. Bidwell, 136 Conn. 603, 73 A.2d 295, 297 (1950)). In Groner, the landlord and tenant had never agreed on the rent to be paid for the first floor. In this case, on the other hand, the parties signed a lease which specified the rent for the entire space and they agreed to a provision for adjusting the rent if the square footage of the premises was miscalculated. The meeting of the minds, which was lacking in Groner, was supplied here by the negotiating parties' signatures on the lease. In the present case, the lease specifically provided for the possibility that one or both of the parties to it might be mistaken as to the square footage of the leased premises. Under these circumstances, a court is obliged to enforce the contractual resolution of the problem raised by any such misapprehension, rather than to invalidate the contract itself. [3]