Richard v. Broussard
Louisiana Supreme Court
495 So. 2d 1291 (1980)
A landlord leased a restaurant building, which it had previously operated itself, to tenants who planned to run a similar restaurant; the lease let the landlord retake and relet the property if the tenants abandoned it, while still pursuing unpaid rent from the original tenants, offset by rent collected from any new tenant. The tenants abandoned the property, the landlord's efforts to find a new tenant failed, and about two months later the landlord itself moved back in and resumed operating a restaurant there. The landlord then sued the original tenants for accelerated future rent and costs; the trial court awarded that relief, and the tenants appealed.
Whether, if a tenant abandons leased property and the landlord later occupies the abandoned premises for its own business purposes, the landlord may recover rent from the tenant for the period during which the landlord occupied the property.