Reference no: EM133262729

Pan Handle Realty, LLC, and Robert Olins signed a one-year lease for a new luxury home. The day before Olins was to move in, however, he reneged. Pan Handle was unable to secure a new tenant for the term of the lease and filed a suit in a Connecticut state court against Olins. The court ruled in Pan Handle's favor. Olins appealed.

A state intermediate appellate court affirmed. "There is no evidence in the record to support the defendant's contention that he did not intend to be bound by the lease when he signed it *  *  *. The defendant's apparent unilateral change of heart regarding the lease agreement does not negate the parties' prior meeting of the minds that occurred at the time the lease was executed. There is ample evidence in the record evincing the intent of the parties to be bound by the lease when they signed it."

On finding that the defendant breached the lease, the court awarded the plaintiff "compensatory damages in the amount of $146,000-$138,000 in unpaid rent for the term of the lease and $8,000 in utility fees incurred by the plaintiff during the lease period-plus interest, and attorney's fees." On the defendant's appeal, a state intermediate appellate court affirmed the lower court's judgment and award.

1. Did the measure of damages assessed in this case place Pan in the same position it would have been in if the lease had been fully performed?

2. The defendant never moved into the house. Why then did the court find that he breached the lease?