Weaver v. Frios Gourmet Pops, LLC, [SC‑2024‑0713, Feb. 20, 2026] ___ So. 3d ___ (Ala. 2026). The Court (Stewart, C.J.; Shaw, Bryan, Mendheim, and McCool, JJ., concur) reverses the Etowah Circuit Court’s judgment and remands the case for a new trial or other further proceedings. The Court holds that the trial court wrongly concluded, as a matter of law, that the commercial lease barred the landlord from recovering damages beyond the rent accrued when the landlord terminated the tenant’s right of possession and reentered the premises. Ms.**17–19.
The Court acknowledges Alabama’s general rule that a landlord’s reentry ordinarily terminates the tenancy and extinguishes the tenant’s obligation to pay future rent. But the Court explains that parties to a lease may contractually agree that a defaulting tenant must pay liquidated damages equal to the value of unpaid future rent. Ms.**12–13.
Applying standard principles of contract construction, the Court concludes that the lease’s default provisions show that the tenants agreed to pay certain damages even after termination of the tenancy and reletting of the property. Ms.**15–17. The Court rejects the trial court’s interpretation limiting all post‑termination damages and instead concludes that the provision merely acknowledges the general rule that rent stops accruing after termination and that any remaining liability consists of damages rather than additional rent payments. Ms.**17 n.5.
The Court also rejects the tenants’ argument that the default provisions impose an unenforceable penalty, concluding that the provisions call for compensatory damages. Ms.**17–18. Finally, the Court declines to address the amount or method of calculating post‑termination damages, the evidence necessary to prove such damages, or any other potential defenses, and directs a new trial or other further proceedings consistent with the opinion. Ms.**18–19.