A.D. Juilliard & Co. v. American Woolen Co.
Rhode Island Supreme Court
32 A.2d 800 (1943)
In 1893, Atlantic Mills leased property to Riverside Worsted Mills under a lease that didn't restrict assignment or require an assignee to assume rent obligations for the full remaining term. The lease was assigned in 1934 to American Woolen (defendant) and then assigned again twice more. None of the assignments made the assignee responsible for rent beyond its own period of possession. A.D. Juilliard (plaintiff), as the landlord's successor, sued American Woolen for unpaid rent accruing after American Woolen had already reassigned the lease.
Whether, absent an express agreement between assignor and assignee, an assignee of a real property lease assumes the assignor's obligations for the remainder of the lease term.