| Connaught Tower Corp. v Nagar |
| 2009 NY Slip Op 01010 [59 AD3d 218] |
| February 10, 2009 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| Connaught Tower Corp., Respondent, v Shimon Nagar etal., Appellants. |
—[*1] Axelrod & Fingerhut, New York (Lance Luckow of counsel), for respondent.
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Richard F. Braun, J.), entered December 12,2007, which, in an action for breach of a commercial lease, granted plaintiff landlord's motionfor summary judgment on the issue of liability, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
Defendant tenants' vacating of the premises by delivery of the keys to one "David," andDavid's purported written acceptance of the keys on behalf of plaintiff landlord, could notoperate as a surrender of the premises, where the lease specified that the delivery of keys to anyagent or employee of plaintiff could not operate as a termination of the lease or surrender of thepremises. Upon review of the record, including the parties' correspondence, we find that therewas no meeting of the minds on the terms of surrender. No clear and unambiguous promises byplaintiff warrant equitable intervention (see American Bartenders School v 105 MadisonCo., 59 NY2d 716 [1983]; 99 Realty Co. v Eikenberry, 242 AD2d 215, 216 [1997]).No acts by plaintiff warrant a finding of surrender by operation of law (see RiversideResearch Inst. v KMGA, Inc., 68 NY2d 689, 690-691 [1986]). Concur—Tom, J.P.,Saxe, McGuire, Moskowitz and Freedman, JJ.