I'm almost sickened pointing this out, but legally speaking, a large part of the 6+ months would be the responsibility of the tenant they sued. It could get ugly for the small business owner.
True generally regarding tenant responsibility if new tenant can't be found, but good luck recovering anything at all from a tenant who was evicted because they couldn't pay rent.
It seems to me that any landlord who understood the economic situation would work with tenants to keep them on paying something, even if they couldn't afford full rent. I expect landlords will end up better economically in the end that way.
