Smith v. Roberts
Illinois Court of Appeals
370 N.E.2d 271 (1977)
Roberts Brothers (defendant) leased space from the Smiths (plaintiffs) adjoining its clothing store intending to annex it as an extra room, but before occupying the leased space, a fire destroyed Roberts's main store, eliminating any practical purpose for the annexed room; Roberts never occupied the space or paid rent, and the trial court excused its performance under the doctrine of commercial frustration.
Whether a lessee is excused from performance under the lease if the lessee's purpose for signing the lease has been frustrated, the event that caused the frustration of that purpose was not reasonably foreseeable, and the value of counterperformance by the lessee was substantially destroyed by the event.