SFBC, a provider of drug development services to branded pharmaceutical, biotechnology, generic drug and medical device companies, said its counsel believed the lawsuit brought by East Bay Corporation was without merit.
“In this case, the landlord-lessor is attempting to misapply language in a 59-year-old document to achieve an unconscionable windfall,” said company attorney Thomas Tew, senior partner based in the Miami office of Tew Cardenas LLP.
East Bay owns a 99-year land lease for a portion of the property on which SFBC conducts certain operations in Miami. In the lawsuit, East Bay alleged that the terms of the lease had been violated and that it was entitled to immediate possession and full ownership of the land, as well as the building now owned and operated by SFBC.
The land lease involves the company’s south building containing 51 beds, SFBC’s clinical laboratory and its offices, a portion of the annex and part of the parking for the property. SFBC purchased the north building, the annex, the south building and remaining land used for parking in February 2004.
Other than the land and structures covered by the land lease, all of the remaining land and structures are owned by SFBC.