Island Girl Outfitters, LLC, et al. v. Allied Development of Alabama, LLC, [Ms. SC-2023-0561, Mar. 21, 2025] __ So. 3d __ (Ala. 2025). The Court (Mitchell, J.; Stewart, C.J., and Shaw, Wise, Mendheim, Cook, and McCool, JJ., concur; Bryan and Sellers, JJ., concur in the result) affirms the Baldwin Circuit Court’s judgment in favor of the landlord for breach of a commercial lease.
Island Girl Outfitters (“IGO”) and its owner, Anthony Carver, operated a store at the Eastern Shore Centre but closed the store at the end of the first year of a five-year lease. The landlord, Allied Development, sued for breach of contract, citing provisions in the lease and a personal guaranty that obligated IGO and Carver to pay future rent and related damages. The trial court granted partial summary judgment on liability and then held a hearing on damages, awarding $94,350 to Allied. Ms. **2-5.
IGO and Carver argued that Allied failed to market and maintain the shopping center and that their lease obligations should be reduced because Allied re-let the space quickly. However, the Court affirms the summary judgment, explaining that IGO failed to point to any contractual provision requiring such duties, and “[i]n order to secure a reversal, the appellant has an affirmative duty of showing error upon the record.” Ms. *7, quoting Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s, London v. Southern Nat. Gas Co., 142 So. 3d 436, 464 (Ala. 2013). The Court further emphasizes that appellate courts are not obligated to search the record for error. Ms. *7, citing id. at 453.
As to damages, the Court applies the ore tenus standard, deferring to the trial court’s findings because IGO and Carver did not include a transcript or a Rule 10(d) statement from the damages hearing. Without such a record, the Court presumes the trial court’s award was supported by the evidence. Ms. *9.