Jeffrey L. Andrews, Plaintiff/counterdefendant/appellant v. Leslie W. Blake and Moon Valley Nursery, Inc., An…

Summary

The Arizona Supreme Court held that the lease addendum's notice provision did not prescribe exclusive methods for exercising the option to purchase, so a written exercise sent by regular mail was not automatically ineffective, and whether Andrews received Blake's September 20 letter before the October 1, 1999 deadline was a question of fact. The court announced that Arizona equity will excuse a lessee's failure to timely exercise an option to renew or purchase leased property only when the failure results from incapacity, fraud, misrepresentation, duress, undue influence, mistake, estoppel, or the lessor's waiver—not mere negligence—and that even then relief requires the three Corbin factors (short delay, no prejudice, unconscionable hardship). Because genuine issues of material fact precluded summary judgment for either party on receipt, negligence versus mistake, prejudice, and hardship, the court vacated the court of appeals' decision, reversed the trial court's judgment, and remanded. No separate opinions were filed.