Appellate Court Affirms $2.15M Judgment for Luxury Hotel Client
Todd & Weld attorneys David Rich and Matt Furman successfully defended on appeal a $2.15 million judgment in favor of their luxury hotel client, The Lenox Hotel, as the Boston Municipal Court Appellate Division affirmed a damages award arising from a long-running commercial lease dispute with restaurant operator Glenbeg, LLC.
The Appellate Division upheld the trial court’s findings on remand that The Lenox was entitled to $1.6 million in unpaid rent as damages, plus attorneys’ fees, costs, and prejudgment interest, for Glenbeg’s breach of its lease and management agreements with the hotel. The panel rejected Glenbeg’s arguments that the trial court erred in its calculations, finding no abuse of discretion in the lower court’s rulings on percentage rent, attorney fees, or interest.
The dispute, a commercial summary process eviction proceeding, stems from Glenbeg’s failure to meet its rent obligations under a commercial lease for three restaurant spaces located in The Lenox Hotel. The summary process case was tried in the Boston Municipal Court in 2023. In a previous 2024 appeal, the Appellate Division reversed the trial court and awarded The Lenox nearly $600,000 in unpaid base rent and possession of the leased premises, and remanded the matter for a determination of additional damages including unpaid percentage rent and other amounts owed under the lease.
On remand, the trial judge credited The Lenox’s calculation of percentage rent, as well as its entitlement to interest and attorney fees. In affirming that remand decision, the Appellate Division agreed that the trial court’s damages award appropriately reflected Glenbeg’s breach and the terms of the lease between the parties.