## Facts

- A landlord leased premises to a tenant for one year beginning October 1, 1934, at $480 per year, payable in monthly installments of $40 in advance on the first day of each month.
- The tenant occupied the premises and paid rent through January 1935.
- On February 1, 1935, the tenant failed to pay the $40 installment due that day, vacated the premises, and notified the landlord he would pay no further rent.
- The landlord did not treat the lease as rescinded; it sued for contract damages measured by the difference between the rent reserved and the reasonable rental value of the premises for the remainder of the term.
- The tenant demurred, asserting no action could be brought for future rent installments not yet due.
- The trial court overruled the demurrer; the tenant did not plead further; judgment entered for the landlord; the tenant appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether the tenant’s failure to pay rent when due, combined with abandonment and an express refusal to perform further, constituted a repudiation and total breach of the lease.
2. Whether, after such repudiation, the landlord may immediately sue in one action for damages for the remainder of the term, rather than waiting until each rent installment accrues.

## Decision

- The court affirmed the judgment for the landlord.
- The tenant’s nonpayment of the February installment, abandonment, and statement that he would not pay further rent constituted repudiation and a total breach.
- Because the breach was total, the landlord could bring an immediate action for damages for the balance of the term.
- The pleaded measure of damages—contract rent minus reasonable rental value for the remainder—stated a legally sufficient claim.

## Legal Principles

- A partial breach (such as nonpayment of a due installment) coupled with an unequivocal repudiation of future performance may be treated as a total breach.
- Upon a tenant’s abandonment and repudiation, a landlord may elect to seek contract damages for breach of the covenant to pay rent, rather than suing only for accrued rent installments.
- When a lease is totally breached by repudiation, damages for the remaining term may be recovered in a single action, measured by the difference between the rent reserved and the reasonable rental value for the unexpired term.
- In this setting, the claim is for contract damages arising from total breach, not for unaccrued “rent” as a present debt.

## Conclusion

A tenant’s default on rent due, combined with abandonment and an express refusal to perform the lease, constitutes a total breach that permits the landlord to sue immediately in one action for damages for the remainder of the term, measured by reserved rent minus reasonable rental value.


Sagamore Corp. v. Willcutt, 120 Conn. 315, 180 A. 464 (Conn. 1935)