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Full-Text Articles in Contracts

Rethinking Mac Clauses In The Time Of Akorn, Boston Scientific, And Covid-19, Samuel Shapiro Apr 2021

Rethinking Mac Clauses In The Time Of Akorn, Boston Scientific, And Covid-19, Samuel Shapiro

Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review

The MAC clause is perhaps the most important clause in contract law, giving acquirers the ability to terminate even the largest agreements in the face of an often vaguely defined “Material Adverse Change.” For decades, even though MAC clauses have been present in nearly every merger agreement, courts have almost universally refused to enforce them. But the Delaware Chancery Court’s 2018 decision in Akorn may finally change that. As the world deals with the economic uncertainty caused by COVID-19, courts may soon get more opportunities to decide whether or not they will follow Akorn’s lead and begin to allow …


Failure Of A "Basic Assumption": The Emerging Standard For Excuse Under Mae Provisions, Nathan Somogie Oct 2009

Failure Of A "Basic Assumption": The Emerging Standard For Excuse Under Mae Provisions, Nathan Somogie

Michigan Law Review

The onset of the current economic crisis has led many strategic and financial acquirers to reconsider the desirability of transactions to which they had previously agreed. Because many of these agreements contain substantial termination fees, buyers have increasingly sought to be excused from their contractual obligations by invoking Material Adverse Effect ("MAE") provisions. Reliance on MAE clauses as a basis for termination has historically been risky due to a lack of clarity in the case law regarding the standard for excuse under such provisions. A recent decision by the Delaware Chancery Court, Hexion v. Huntsman, the third in a …


Is A Burrito A Sandwich? Exploring Race, Class, And Culture In Contracts, Marjorie Florestal Jan 2008

Is A Burrito A Sandwich? Exploring Race, Class, And Culture In Contracts, Marjorie Florestal

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

A superior court in Worcester, Massachusetts, recently determined that a burrito is not a sandwich. Surprisingly, the decision sparked a firestorm of media attention. Worcester, Massachusetts, is hardly the pinnacle of the culinary arts-so why all the interest in the musings of one lone judge on the nature of burritos and sandwiches? Closer inspection revealed the allure of this otherwise peculiar case: Potentially thousands of dollars turned on the interpretation of a single word in a single clause of a commercial contract. Judge Locke based his decision on "common sense" and a single definition of sandwich-"two thin pieces of bread, …


Contra Proferentem: The Allure Of Ambiguous Boilerplate, Michelle E. Boardman Mar 2006

Contra Proferentem: The Allure Of Ambiguous Boilerplate, Michelle E. Boardman

Michigan Law Review

Bad boilerplate can shake one' s faith in evolution; not only does it not die away, it multiplies. The puzzle is why. Much of boilerplate is ambiguous or incomprehensible. This alienates consumers and is i ncreasingly punished by courts construing the language against the drafter. There must, therefore, be some hidden allure to ambiguous boilerplate. The popular theory is trickery: drafters lure consumers in with promising language that comes to nothing in court. But this trick would require consumers to do three things they do not do-read the language, understand it, and take comfort in it. There is a hidden …


Good Faith And The Cooperative Antagonist (Symposium On Revised Article 1 And Proposed Revised Article 2 Of The Uniform Commercial Code), James J. White Jan 2001

Good Faith And The Cooperative Antagonist (Symposium On Revised Article 1 And Proposed Revised Article 2 Of The Uniform Commercial Code), James J. White

Articles

One of Karl Llewellyn's most noted achievements in the Uniform Commercial Code was to impose the duty of good faith on every obligation under the Uniform Commercial Code.1 Some (I am one) have privately thought that imposition of this unmeasurable, undefinable duty was Llewellyn's cruelest trick, but no court, nor any academic writer, has ever been so bold or so gauche as to suggest that good faith should not attend the obligations of parties under the UCC. Notwithstanding this silent indorsement of the duty of good faith, the courts2 and commentators3 have had difficulty in determining what is and what …


Form Contracts Under Revised Article 2 (Symposium: Consumer Protection And The Uniform Commercial Code), James J. White Jan 1997

Form Contracts Under Revised Article 2 (Symposium: Consumer Protection And The Uniform Commercial Code), James J. White

Articles

The current draft of section 2-206 in Revised Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code ("UCC") entitled "Consumer Contract: Standard Form"1 presents a unique and threatening challenge to the drafters of consumer form contracts. In earlier drafts, one part of the section applied to both to commercial contracts and consumer contracts. It required that "one manifest assent" to any form contract, commercial or consumer, in order for it to be binding.2 Bowing to commercial opposition in the most recent version, the drafters have omitted all reference to commercial contracts. As the section stands, it applies only to consumer contracts.


The Decline Of The Contract Market Damage Model, James J. White Jan 1988

The Decline Of The Contract Market Damage Model, James J. White

Articles

In law school every American lawyer learns that the conventional measure of damages for breach of a sales contract is the difference between the contract price and the market price. Even before these rules were embodied in the Uniform Sales Act and the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), they were a staple of Anglo-American common law. They remain the rules with which a court would determine damage liability not only for the sale of goods, but also for the sale of real estate and securities.


Eight Cases And Section 251, James J. White Jan 1982

Eight Cases And Section 251, James J. White

Articles

[A] continuing sense of reliance and security that the promised performance will be forthcoming. . . is an important feature of the bargain-so states Comment 1 to section 2-609 of the Uniform Commercial Code. At common law, one party to a contract might suffer considerable and justifiable anxiety about the other party's willingness or ability to perform and yet have no legal basis for cancelling the contract or for procuring additional assurances from the other party. Section 251 of the Restatement (Second) of Contracts is designed to provide a remedy for one party's reasonable fears that the other party to …


No-Strike Clauses In The Federal Courts, Frank H. Stewart Mar 1961

No-Strike Clauses In The Federal Courts, Frank H. Stewart

Michigan Law Review

One consideration will support several promises. A promisor may extract more than one promise in return for his single undertaking to do - or not to do. It depends upon his bargaining power. His single undertaking may be so valuable that several promises are necessary to induce him to act, or not to act. He is privileged to hold out for the best deal. The law does not examine his motives or reduce his demands. And from this arises the common- law principle that one consideration may support several promises.


Conflict Of Laws-Law Applicable In Federal Courts-Federal Law Applied To Contractual Relations Of Admiralty Lawyer, Robert E. Thorne S.Ed. Mar 1961

Conflict Of Laws-Law Applicable In Federal Courts-Federal Law Applied To Contractual Relations Of Admiralty Lawyer, Robert E. Thorne S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff attorney was retained by a Spanish seaman to prosecute personal injury claims under the Jones Act and the general maritime law. Defendant shipping company induced the seaman to fire his lawyer and to recover instead under his Spanish employment contract. Plaintiff sued the shipping company in tort for interference with contractual relations. In a federal diversity suit, held, for plaintiff. Federal common law should be applied to determine the validity of the contract and the claim of tortious interference with it. Greenberg v. Panama Transp. Co., 185 F. Supp. 320 (D. Mass. 1960).


Constitutional Law - State Action - Effect Of State Court Interpretation Of A Contract, Dudley H. Chapman Apr 1957

Constitutional Law - State Action - Effect Of State Court Interpretation Of A Contract, Dudley H. Chapman

Michigan Law Review

Mrs. Doris Walker, president of her local union, was discharged by Cutter Laboratories in 1949 because of membership in the Communist Party and falsification of her employment application. The employer acquired knowledge of these facts in 1947, but did not act at that time to avoid charges of persecuting a union officer. The union, pursuant to the collective bargaining agreement, which authorized discharge for "just cause" only, sought and obtained reinstatement from the arbitration board, which action was affirmed by the district court of appeal, but reversed by the California Supreme Court. On certiorari to the United States Supreme Court, …


Jacobs: Law Writers And The Courts, Richard. A. Edwards Nov 1954

Jacobs: Law Writers And The Courts, Richard. A. Edwards

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Law Writers and the Courts. By Clyde E. Jacobs


Courts-Validity Of Contracts Restricting Venue In Actions Under The Federal Employers' Liability Act, John C. Walker S. Ed. Feb 1950

Courts-Validity Of Contracts Restricting Venue In Actions Under The Federal Employers' Liability Act, John C. Walker S. Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner suffered injuries in the course of his duties as an employee of respondent railroad. Subsequently, respondent advanced money to petitioner and the latter agreed in writing that if his claim could not be settled he would sue only in the county or district where he resided at the time of the injury, or in the county or district where the injury was sustained. This agreement restricted petitioner's choice of venue to either a state or federal court sitting in Michigan. Ignoring the contract, petitioner sued in an Illinois court. Respondent then brought suit in the Michigan courts to enjoin …


Quasi-Contracts-Recission-Liability And Remedies For Innocent Misrepresentation, Bruce L. Moore S.Ed. Apr 1948

Quasi-Contracts-Recission-Liability And Remedies For Innocent Misrepresentation, Bruce L. Moore S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

A number of courts and most writers recognize the existence of three types of misrepresentation. One type is described as intentional, a second type as negligent, and a third type as innocent. An innocent misrepresentation may be defined as one believed to be true and made without negligence, but false in fact.


Abstracts, Katherine Kempfer Aug 1943

Abstracts, Katherine Kempfer

Michigan Law Review

The abstracts consist merely of summaries of the facts and holdings of recent cases and are distinguished from the notes by the absence of discussion.


Appeal And Error-Appealable Interest Of Bidder At Judicial Sale, Michigan Law Review Apr 1937

Appeal And Error-Appealable Interest Of Bidder At Judicial Sale, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The receiver of a bank effected a compromise settlement with the maker of a second mortgage note of $2100, agreeing to sell him the note for $500. Notice of hearing to confirm this sale was published. Prior to the confirmation, appellant, who was the holder of the first mortgage, offered to pay the receiver $600 for the note. The court confirmed the sale to the maker over appellant's objection made at the hearing. Held, that the appellant was not an aggrieved party and had no appealable interest. Dean v. Clapp, (Iowa 1936) 268 N. W. 56.


Equity - Rescission Of Contract Induced By Fraud - Money Judgment As An Alternative To Specific Restitution Nov 1935

Equity - Rescission Of Contract Induced By Fraud - Money Judgment As An Alternative To Specific Restitution

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff entered into an agreement for the exchange of interests in real estate with one of the defendants. After payment of part of the boot money agreed upon, the plaintiff defaulted and sued to have the agreement rescinded for fraud. The trial court rendered a money judgment for the amount at which the plaintiff's property had been taken on the trade. Held, that defendant's wife, to whom the property had been conveyed, should have been joined, and that the decree should be modified to order a reconveyance to the plaintiff. Bacon v. Fox, 267 Mich. 589, 255 N. …


Pleading-How To Raise The Issue Of Payment Nov 1932

Pleading-How To Raise The Issue Of Payment

Michigan Law Review

On rehearing in an action on contract for money two questions were presented to the court, to wit: first, is an allegation of non-payment essential in order that this complaint might state a cause of action; and second, can the issue of payment be raised by the defendant's general denial? Held, in Hughes v. Wachter an allegation of non-payment is necessary in the complaint, and the defendant may prove payment under a general denial.


Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review Apr 1922

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Admiralty - Workmen's Compensation - Is a Hydroplane a Vessel? - Claimant was employed in the care and management of a hydroplane which was moored in navigable waters. The hydroplane began to drag anchor and drift toward the beach, where it was in danger of being wrecked. Claimant waded into the water and was struck by the propeller. Held, claimant is not entitled to compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Law, since a hydroplane while on navigable waters is a vessel, and therefore the jurisdiction of the admiralty excludes that of the State Industrial Commission. Reinhardt v. Newport Flying Service Corp. …


Performance Of An Existing Obligation As Consideration For A Promise, John B. Waite Jan 1918

Performance Of An Existing Obligation As Consideration For A Promise, John B. Waite

Articles

The dictum that if there be nothing in a rule flatly contradictory to reason the law will presume it to be well founded, and that the office of the judge is "jus dicere and not jus dare", is responsible for much agony of construction and tortious logic on the part of courts torn by desire to evade it in the interest of modern ideas of right. There is a trilogy of accepted legal principles which it has been particularly difficult for the courts to adhere to in spirit or to repudiate in letter. They are the propositions, that for a …


Re-Writing The Statute Of Frauds: Part Performance In Equity, Willard T. Barbour Jan 1918

Re-Writing The Statute Of Frauds: Part Performance In Equity, Willard T. Barbour

Articles

One of the most striking examples of judicial legislation is that process whereby courts of equity, from the end of the seventeenth century onwards, have in no small measure re-written the Statute of Frauds. Exception was added to exception until the doctrine kmown as "part performance" became firmly established. The doctrine was not evolved consistently and the basis of some applications of it is obscure. One who follows Sir Edward Frys admirable but futile attempt (Fry, SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE (ed. 5) §§ 580, ff.) to systematize the variant decisions of the English courts must feel doubtful whether any single theory will …


Note And Comment, Ralph W. Aigler, Edgar N. Durfee, Werner W. Schroeder, Arthur A. Morrow, Harry B. Sutter, Russell H. Neilson Jun 1916

Note And Comment, Ralph W. Aigler, Edgar N. Durfee, Werner W. Schroeder, Arthur A. Morrow, Harry B. Sutter, Russell H. Neilson

Michigan Law Review

Estates in Fee Tail - Quite generally estates in fee tail under the STATUTE DE DONIS were recognized by the states as a part of the common law. Statutory provisions in the way of modification and abolishment of such estates, however, are very common. The nature and scope of the statutory provisions have varied. See the states classified according to the character of the legislation in BREWSTER, CONVEYANCING, § § 142, 143.


Recovery Of The Purchase Price Before Title Has Passed, John B. Waite Jan 1916

Recovery Of The Purchase Price Before Title Has Passed, John B. Waite

Articles

In an action recently instituted by The General Electric Co. to recover on a contract to manufacture certain machinery for the defendant, which machinery the defendant had refused to accept, the trial court adopted the contract price as the measure of damages. The upper court approved this measure of damages, rejecting the argument that the measure should have been the difference between the market value and the contract price, and dismissed, as no longer appropriate to modern conditions, the decisions in Bement v. Smith, 15 Wend. (N. Y.) 493, and Shawhan v. Van Nest. 25 Oh. St. 490. The court …


Recent Important Decisions May 1914

Recent Important Decisions

Michigan Law Review

A collection of recent important court decisions.


Note And Comment, Gordon W. Stoner, Newton K. Fox, Walle W. Merritt, Albert E. Meder Feb 1912

Note And Comment, Gordon W. Stoner, Newton K. Fox, Walle W. Merritt, Albert E. Meder

Michigan Law Review

The Power of a Court to Compel a jury to Render its Verdict in Accordance with a Peremptory Instruction; The Liability of Municipal Corporations in the Discharge of Public or Governmental Duties and of Private or Corporate Duties; Some views of the Nature and Effect of Corporateness; Mitigation of Damages or Substituted Contract; Limitation of the Amount of a Carrier's Liability


Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review Jan 1912

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Adverse Possession--Hostile Character--Possession Under Executory Contract for Sale; Bills and Notes--Bona Fide Purchase--Effect of Taking After Maturity; Bills and Notes--Bona Fide Purchase--Payment of Forged Check--Recovery of Payment; Bills and Notes--Invalidity of Note--Recovery Upon Original Consideration; Constitutional law--Due Process of Law--Situs of Ship for Purposes of Taxation; contracts--Sufficiency of Typewritten Signature; Copyright--Moving Pictures as Dramatization of Book; Corporations--Stockholder's Meetings--Effect of Withdrawal of Stockholders; Courts--The New Commerce Court--Jurisdiction--First Decision; Covenants Running with the Land--Building Restrictions; Damages--Excessiveness--Personal Injuries--Remittitur; Dead Bodies--Burial Determination of Place; Easements--Merger--Use by Owner of Servient Estate--Adverse Possession; Homicide--Burden of Proof When Insanity is a Defense; Intoxicating Liquors--Illegal Sale--"Dispensing"; Judgment--Collateral Attack--Defective …


Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review May 1911

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Appearance--appeal from Action in Rem as General Appearance; Bankruptcy--Suit by Trustee--Right to Trial by Jury; Bills and Notes--Draft by Agent on Principal--Necessity of Acceptance; Carriers--Merchandise as Baggage--Notice; Constitutional Law--Impairing Obligation of Contract--Clause of Insurance Contract Limiting the Time in Which to Bring Action; Constitutional Law--Invalidating Existing Contracts for Free Transportation; Contracts--Mutual Promises--Independent or Conditional; Courts--Supreme Court--Jurisdiction--Mandamus to Compel Entry of Judgment by Lower Court; Eminent Domain--Damages; Evidence--Confession of an Alleged Accomplice; Evidence--Statutes--Enrolled bill as Evidence; Homestead--Does Joinder of Wife to Release Dower Bar Her Homestead Right?; Insurance--Increase of Hazard; Libel and slander--Absolute Privilege--Judicial Proceedings; Parent and Child--May Parent Authorize Agent …


Note And Comment, John R. Rood, Arthur J. Abbott, Allen Mck. Bond, Howard H. Campbell Feb 1911

Note And Comment, John R. Rood, Arthur J. Abbott, Allen Mck. Bond, Howard H. Campbell

Michigan Law Review

Ignorance and Mistake of Law Caused by Over-Ruled Cases; The Doctrine of Exemplary Damages in Its Application to Corporations; When is a Will Signed "At the End?": Construction of the Code Phrase "Subject of Action"


Recent Important Decisions, Michigal Law Review Feb 1910

Recent Important Decisions, Michigal Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Appeal and Error--Attorney's Interest in Case on Appeal--Contingent Fee; Bankruptcy--discharge--subsequent Action for Fraud; Bills and Notes--Usury No Defense Against a bona Fide Holder--Construction of Negotiable Instruments Statute; Boundaries--Street, Terminus A Quo; Carriers--Hepbern Act--State and Federal Courts--Phrase "Caused by It"; Chattel Mortgages--Payment without Notice of Assignment--Construction of a Mortgage Provision; Constitutional Law--Equal Protection of Laws--Statute Requiring Screens on Cars Operated by Corporations; Constitutional Law--Equal Protection of the Laws--Class Legislation; Contracts--No Recovery Under an Entire Illegal Contract; Contracts--Validity of Contract in Contemplation of Divorce; Courts--Federal Courts--authority of Decision of State Courts--"Telegraph"; Covenants--Breach of that Against Incumbrances; Elections--Ballots--Indication of Choice by Voter; Evidence--Facts …


Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review Mar 1909

Recent Important Decisions, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Assignment for Creditors--Validity of Common Law Assignment Under State Statutes--Assignee May Maintain Replevin; Bills and Notes--Fraud--Ability to Read; Bills and Notes--Signature by Agent or Representative--Personal Liability; Boundaries--Meander Line as Boundary in Government Grants--Mistake in Survey; Carriers--Liability as Carriers of Live Stock; Contracts--Antenuptial Agreements--Performance Prevented by Party; Courts--Supreme Court--Review of Decisions of State Courts; Courts--United States Courts Enjoining Proceedings in State Courts--establishment of Railroad Rates by Commission; Criminal Law--Larceny--Fraudulent Use of Legal Process; Criminal Law--Reception of Verdict--Accused's Right to be Present; Dead Bodies--Power of Court to Order Exhumation to Procure Evidence; Evidence--Burden of Proof; Evidence--compelling Accused to Criminate Himself--Waiver of Privilege; …