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Full-Text Articles in Law

Revisiting The Enforceability Of Online Contracts: The Need For Unambiguous Assent To Inconspicuous Terms, Tom Mozingo Jan 2020

Revisiting The Enforceability Of Online Contracts: The Need For Unambiguous Assent To Inconspicuous Terms, Tom Mozingo

Seattle University Law Review

In determining the enforceability of online contracts, namely those formed from the use of smartphone applications, courts typically look to whether the contract terms were reasonably conspicuous or communicated to the consumer. With the rise of “browse-wrap” contracts, where terms are not directly communicated to the consumer or where the consumer is not required to click the equivalent of an “I agree” button clearly manifesting assent to the terms, courts have inconsistently applied the reasonable communicativeness standard to the detriment of consumers and application developers alike. This Comment will explore the development of browse-wrap contracting jurisprudence and the need to …


Doing Deals With Aristotle—Today, Chapin F. Cimino Oct 2017

Doing Deals With Aristotle—Today, Chapin F. Cimino

Seattle University Law Review

This analysis proceeds in six steps. In Part I, this Article sets the stage by describing the problem: while contracting behavior is increasingly complex, contract law and theory remain stubbornly uni-faceted. That is, while contracting and contractors are ever more modern, contract law and theory are ever more traditional. The greater the divide, the less useful contract theory is to contract law, and the less useful contract law is to contractors. This trend does not bode well for the future of contract law or theory. The question is how much of a crisis contract law will have to endure before …


Financing The Benefit Corporation, Dana Brakman Reiser, Steven A. Dean Apr 2017

Financing The Benefit Corporation, Dana Brakman Reiser, Steven A. Dean

Seattle University Law Review

The hybrid organizational forms designed with social enterprises in mind have proven to be hothouse flowers. Flourishing in state legislatures, even those with the most distinguished pedigrees—such as Delaware’s public benefit corporation—have so far failed to thrive in the marketplace. Fortunately, hybrid financial instruments offer a source of strength and stability that can help social enterprise to take root. This Article examines the valuable role that financial instruments can play in providing social enterprises with the capital they need to grow. Debt with equity features and equity with debt characteristics constitute the lion’s share of such financial tools. More exotic …


Hostile Takeovers And Overreliance, Anthony Niblett Jan 2015

Hostile Takeovers And Overreliance, Anthony Niblett

Seattle University Law Review

Commentators have argued that employees should be compensated in the event of a hostile takeover; otherwise, the threat of such a takeover will fail to incentivize firm-specific investments by employees. Such deferred compensation is analogous to the payment of damages following a breach of contract. The analogous breach, here, is the breach of an implicit contract between management and employees. Employees trusted management to compensate them for firm-specific investments not explicitly contracted for. This Article uses a familiar result from the contract law literature: There is no measure of damages for breach of contract that can generate both efficient breach …


Recovery Of Pure Economic Loss In Product Liability Actions: An Economic Comparison Of Three Legal Rules, Heidi A. Irvin, Mark S. Carlson Jan 1988

Recovery Of Pure Economic Loss In Product Liability Actions: An Economic Comparison Of Three Legal Rules, Heidi A. Irvin, Mark S. Carlson

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment argues that in the allocation of pure economic loss caused by product failure, the negligence rule is generally more efficient than a strict liability rule and that a contract rule is almost always more efficient than a negligence rule. Part II presents a general discussion of the attributes of an economically efficient remedy. In Part III, three legal rules used to allocate pure economic loss are scrutinized under the standards set forth in Part II.


Dependent Covenants In Commercial Leases: Hindquarter Corp. V. Property Development Corp., Tracy R. Antley Faust Jan 1985

Dependent Covenants In Commercial Leases: Hindquarter Corp. V. Property Development Corp., Tracy R. Antley Faust

Seattle University Law Review

This Note demonstrates that the Washington Supreme Court correctly applied contract principles to the Hindquarter lease dispute. The Note first reviews the historical development of dependent covenants in both residential and commercial contexts. After setting out this important background information, the Note examines Hindquarter and the three factors that influenced the Washington Supreme Court in following the dependent covenants trend: (1) material inducements to execute the lease; (2) the intent of the parties; and (3) equity and policy considerations. The Note concludes that, even though the landlord prevailed in Hindquarter, commercial tenants stand to gain most from the supreme …


A Proposal For A Variation Of Trusts Statute In Washington, Julie A. Anderson Jan 1985

A Proposal For A Variation Of Trusts Statute In Washington, Julie A. Anderson

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment argues that similar legislation would be desirable in Washington. Even though the proposed statute would entail a substantial deviation from the common-law rule, the resulting benefits justify the change. This Comment also examines the retroactive application of variation of trusts statutes and concludes that a retroactive application is constitutional. A requirement that courts consent on behalf of the beneficiaries only when the variation benefits the beneficiaries in some manners sufficiently protects the beneficiaries' constitutional interests under the contract clause10 and the due process clause of the federal Constitution. Finally, this Comment proposes that a Washington variation of trusts …


Chemical Bank V. Washington Public Power Supply System: An Aberration In Washington's Application Of The Ultra Vires Doctrine, Grant Degginger Jan 1984

Chemical Bank V. Washington Public Power Supply System: An Aberration In Washington's Application Of The Ultra Vires Doctrine, Grant Degginger

Seattle University Law Review

The Washington Supreme Court erred in Chemical Bank by misapplying the distinctions between primary and secondary ultra vires that it had articulated in Edwards v. City of Renton and reaffirmed in Noel. In the interest of consistent, fair, and logical results, the court will ultimately need to retreat from the very technical interpretation of primary ultra vires that it applied in Chemical Bank. Otherwise, the court may find itself splitting hairs over the exact scope of enabling legislation when the statutes and subsequent legislative acts manifest approval of the actions taken.