Sears Successor Questioned in Appeals Court Over Mall Lease Case

A lawyer for Sears Holdings Corp.'s liquidating trustee fielded questions from Second Circuit judges over why the trust was, for the first time, arguing that a Mall of America store agreement is an asset rather than a lease.

The oral argument on Thursday was the latest development in lengthy legal battle over the ownership of an exceptionally below-market lease for Sears’ department store at the Mall of America in Minnesota. Ownership of the 100-year lease was first granted to Transform Holdco LLC when it purchased Sears out of bankruptcy in 2019, but the US District Court for the Southern District ...