Premises Liability
Verified Update
Ruling Issued
Schurman Family Company TIC v. Superior Court (Privette Doctrine Extended to Non-Hiring Landlord)
California's First Appellate District ruled on August 26, 2026 that a warehouse owner is protected from a contractor's employee's injury lawsuit under the Privette doctrine, even though the landlord itself never hired the contractor. The court held Privette extends to any party within the 'chain of delegation' leading to a contractor's retention, reversing a trial court that had denied summary judgment because the landlord was not the direct hiring party.
Not a monetary ruling; writ relief directing entry of summary judgment for the warehouse-owner landlord
Industrial
Why it matters: Widens Privette doctrine protection for California commercial landlords whose leases authorize tenants to bring in independent contractors for installation or maintenance work, narrowing a liability gap counsel previously treated as uncertain whenever the landlord itself was not the hiring party. Landlords should still confirm their leases clearly contemplate the type of contracted work at issue, since the doctrine's traditional exceptions for retained control or undisclosed hazards remain unaffected.
Aug 26, 2026
California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, Division Two
Commercial Lease Disputes
Verified Update
Ruling Issued
ATC Indoor DAS LLC v. MM CCM 48M Leasing, LLC and MM CCM 48M, LLC (Collin Creek Mall Lease Dispute)
The Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas ruled for a wireless-infrastructure tenant against the successor owner of the shuttered Collin Creek Mall, holding the landlord could not use an impossibility or impracticability defense to excuse its termination of a lease it had voluntarily assumed and performed under for months. ATC Indoor DAS LLC, which installed and maintained distributed antenna equipment serving AT&T and Verizon inside the mall, sued after MM CCM 48M Leasing, LLC -- which bought the failing mall and assumed the host lease -- terminated the agreement and gave ATC 30 days to remove its equipment once the mall closed.
N/A — summary judgment reversed and rendered in part on liability; remanded in part on attorney's fees
Why it matters: Confirms that a successor purchaser who voluntarily assumes a lease and performs under it cannot later invoke changed market conditions -- here, a mall's total collapse and closure -- as an excuse to walk away from that lease altogether; 'merely shifting market conditions,' the court held, do not excuse contractual performance. Owners acquiring distressed retail assets encumbered by specialty tenant leases (wireless infrastructure, telecom, signage, and similar arrangements that survive an anchor's departure) should treat assumption of those leases as a binding commitment that a later decision to close or redevelop the property does not automatically unwind.
Jan 29, 2026
Fifth Court of Appeals, Dallas, Texas
