Month: September 2012

Don’t State that the Parties Intend to Be Legally Bound

For the heck of it, let’s go back to basics. Generally, no purpose is served by stating, in the introductory clause or elsewhere, that the parties intend to be legally bound. The approach under U.S. law is summarized by section 21 of the Restatement (Second) of Contracts, which states that “Neither real nor apparent intention that a promise be legally … Read More

Court Describes Contract Language as “Gibberish”

The reader who goes by the name A. Wright Burke, M. Phil., told me about this article by Edmund H. Mahoney in the Hartford Courant. It describes how in Pac. Employers Ins. Co. v. Travelers Cas. & Sur. Co., 3:11CV924 MRK, 2012 WL 3202934 (D. Conn. Aug. 3, 2012) (PDF copy here), the judge describes as “gibberish” the insurance-policy provision at issue … Read More