John F. CAMPBELL, Jr. and Susan Campbell, his wife, Plaintiffs Counter-defendants-Appellees, v. Gordon K. WESTDAHL and Lola Sandra Westdahl, his wife; Raymond Klemp and Jane Doe Klemp, his wife; John Does I-X and Jane Does I-X, dba K & W Investment Company, a general partnership; Roe Partnership I-X; Black Corporations I-X, Defendants Counterclaimants-Appellants, 148 Ariz. 432

Summary

The court held that the trial court properly imposed a standard of reasonableness on the landlord in withholding its consent to the assignment of the lease. The court held that evidence showed the standard under which the original lessor accepted the lessee as a tenant and, thus, it was not error to instruct the jury that consent was not to be withheld unless the prospective lessee was unacceptable, using the same standards as in accepting the original lessee. The court held that there was evidence supporting a finding of interference with a contract because the contract that was interfered with was the separate contract for the sale of the lessee's business, which could not go forward due to the lessor's refusal to accept the assignment of the lease. The court held that the lessee was not required to elect between the remedies for breach of contract or the tort of intentional interference with contract. It was not inconsistent for the jury to conclude that the lessor breached the ...