The
SD Supreme Court handed down one decision this morning, holding inter alia:
- Adverse ruling for lessee attempting to
enforce right of 1st refusal
MCCOY
v. MCCALLUM, 2022 S.D. 42: This dispute
concerns a right of first refusal extended by lessor to lessee for leased
property, “the Gold Nugget Trading Post (Gold Nugget), a retail store for gift
and tourist items” in
Deadwood. Lessor sold the leased
property to a party other than lessee.
Lessee filed suit. The trial
court ruled favorably for the lessor, holding that the. “offer
was bona fide, [that lessee] had been offered the right of first refusal, and [lessee] did not exercise that right.” Lessee appealed, asserting that the 1) offer was
conditional upon circumstances beyond the control of lessee (financing for
offeror) and, as such, was not bona fide, and 2) that lessee’s two offers made
to lessor constituted an appropriate exercise of the right of refusal. The SD
Supreme Court affirmed, stating:
[¶26.] We affirm the circuit
court’s entry of summary judgment in favor of
[lessor] on Count III of [lessee’s] complaint, determining that [lessor]
received a bona fide offer to purchase
from [offeror] and that [lessee] was given the same opportunity to purchase the Leased Premises
at the same price and on the same terms
as [offeror] and failed to exercise the option to purchase. We remand the case
to the circuit court for further proceedings on the remaining claims in the
complaint and counterclaim.
This
decision is unanimous (5-0), with opinion authored by Justice Myren.
This
decision may be accessed at
http://ujs.sd.gov/Supreme_Court/opinions.aspx .
