1. If MII sues CP in a state trial court for the losses it incurred, what would CP’s likely defense be?
2. Discuss the significance of the fact that the original lease did not have an arbitration clause but the new one did. Also, is it significant that the place of arbitration would require MII to travel to California? Do these facts give a court any reason to invalidate the arbitration clause
3. What cases that you studied in this chapter help to support your arguments in Question 2?
4. Assume that noarbitration clause exists in the new lease. What are MII’s options in pursuing damages if CP refuses to compensate MII for the losses it has incurred?
5. Assume that MII files a lawsuit against CP. As part of its case, MII wishes to show that CP had notice of the leak and failed to fix it for one month. What methods of discovery would be useful to obtain this information from CP?
6. Suppose that CP refuses to turn over all phone records and repair request forms to MII based on the fact that the information is confidential and can-not be disclosed in litigation. What standard will a court use to judge whether the information is a trade secret and therefore not subject to disclosure? What case supports your answer?
Medical Instruments, Inc. (MII) required a larger ware-house for its facilities. MII located a 10,000-square-foot building in New Hampshire and signed a lease with Commercial Properties (CP) for one year with a right to renew for five one-year terms upon 60 days’ notice. After the first renewal, CP sent back a new lease with substantially the same terms, except that the new lease had a mandatory arbitration clause that required any tenant to go through arbitration in CP’s home state of California. MII signed the lease without objection. One month after taking occupancy, MII complained that a leak in the warehouse roof was allowing water to drip into a corner of the warehouse and that MII had to move its hardware equipment out of the warehouse to protect it from water damage. CP did not fix the leak until one month later, and MII suffered losses because its hardware was partially destroyed by the leak. MII also had additional out-of-pocket losses related to the expense of moving the equipment to another location.
