The Massachusetts Appeals Court recently reversed an $82,000 judgment in favor of a landlord in a tenant default matter, finding that a provision of a commercial lease that accelerated the remaining rent as liquidated damages is unenforceable as a penalty.
But Joseph P. Mingolla, who represents Cummings Properties, a commercial real estate agency that owns more than 11 million square feet of office space in Woburn, Massachusetts, said the opinion brings uncertainty to thousands of existing commercial lease agreements.