Lawrence

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In 1963, Oliver Baker entered a 100-year ground lease for a 14-acre parcel with developers. The lease allowed the development of 13 acres, and permitted Oliver and his two children, Beatrice Brewer and Albert Baker, to live on one acre for as long as

2 they desired but once they “elect no longer to reside on the said parcel, possession thereof shall be delivered to” developers. On top of monthly rent, the lease required payment of 6 percent of any gross receipts in excess of $1.5 million “derived in whatsoever manner from the demised premises” during the preceding five years. The lease was amended in 1964 and 1971 without substantive change. The 13 acres was developed into a mobile home park and transferred to several other companies before tenant took possession. Tenant and its predecessors accompanied their excess rent payments with reports summarizing the mobile home park’s yearly rent receipts. After Oliver passed away in 1968, Albert and Beatrice continued living on the property until their respective deaths in 2007 and 2009. Neither had biological children; however, Beatrice adopted Lawrence, her adult nephew, in order to devise the 14 acres…