City Wants Specific Performance of Stadium Lease

The usual rule in a lease agreement is that a landlord can’t make a tenant stay put in a building - - all it can get are damages reflecting the value of the remaining lease payments. Can the parties change that rule by inserting a clause allowing the landlord to get specific performance of the lease and make the tenant remain?

Seattle city leaders apparently hope so. They’re threatening legal action if the National Basketball Association’s Seattle SuperSonics try to leave town to move to Oklahoma. The club’s lease with the city-owned Key Arena (left) apparently does not contain any specific promise by the club to stay in Seattle, but does contain a clause entitling the city to specific performance. The lease runs through 2010.

[Frank Snyder]