Lease Guarantee

IBP leased a restaurant space to Pizza Associates.  Graman executed the lease for Pizza Associates as its president, and executed a written guaranty, guaranteeing the payment and performance of the lease.  IBP terminated the lease after Pizza Associates failed to comply with its terms.  IBP sued Pizza Associates for breach of the lease, and sued Graman pursuant to the guaranty.  The trial court granted IBP’s motion for summary judgment, to which Graman had filed a response but Pizza Associates did not.  Graman appealed.

The court of appeals held that Graman did not raise a viable challenge to the trial court’s summary judgment against them because their arguments did not address the obligation to pay under the guaranty.  Instead, Graman raised issues related to the lease, but Pizza Associates’ liability was settled.  The court of appeals determined that Graman cannot avoid liability under the guaranty by now questioning the settled underlying liability related to the lease.  The court of appeals also rejected Graman’s argument that IBP was required to segregate its fees between the breach of lease suit and the breach of guaranty claim.  The court of appeals affirmed the trial court’s judgment.

Graman v. IBP Retail No. 5, L.P., No. 05-12-00565-CV