American Book Company, Plaintiff, v. Yeshiva University Development Foundation, Inc., Defendant, 59 Misc. 2d 31

Summary

After defendant landlord, a foundation affiliated with a religious university, refused permission to plaintiff commercial tenant to sublease its space to an organization that supported abortion, plaintiff brought an action for a declaratory judgment and an injunction to compel defendant to consent to the sublease. The court granted plaintiff's requests, holding that when a religious or religiously affiliated or educational institution operated a commercial enterprise or owned commercial property, it was held to established commercial responsibility. If a lease contained an express covenant that restricted assignment or sublease without a landlord's consent, the landlord could arbitrarily refuse his consent for any reason or no reason. Defendant, however, unreasonably and arbitrarily withheld its consent to this sublease because the parties' lease contained a clause which provided that such permission could not be unreasonably withheld, and reasonableness was judged by objective ...