solution

In 1998, William Larry Smith signed a lease for certain land in Chilton County, Alabama, owned by Sweet Smitherman. The lease stated that it was between “Smitherman, and WLS, Inc., d/b/a [doing business as] S&H Mobile Homes,” and the signature line identified the lessee as “WLS, Inc. d/b/a S&H Mobile Homes . . . By: William Larry Smith, President.” The amount of the rent was $5,000, payable by the tenth of each month. All of the checks that Smitherman received for the rent identify ed the owner of the account as “WLS Corporation d/b/a S&H Mobile Homes.” Nearly four years later, Smitherman fi led a suit in an Alabama state court against William Larry Smith, alleging that he owed $26,000 in unpaid rent. Smith responded, in part, that WLS was the lessee and that he was not personally responsible for the obligation to pay the rent. Is Smith a principal, an agent, both a principal and an agent, or neither? In any event, in the lease, is the principal disclosed, partially disclosed, or undisclosed? With the answers to these questions in mind, who is liable for the unpaid rent, and why? Discuss. [Smith v. Smitherman, 887 So.2d 285 (Ala.Civ.App. 2004)]