I regret to report the sudden and unexpected demise of one of the categories of contract language, namely language of belief. Well, I don’t really regret it. In fact, I’m relieved. Language of belief was a scrawny, frail creature who stood around not doing much of anything other than picking its nose, gazing into space, and getting in the way … Read More
From reader Ben King, general counsel of Jive Communications, I learned about a 2016 opinion of the Supreme Court of Utah, Mind & Motion Utah Investments, LLC v. Celtic Bank Corp., 2016 UT 6, 367 P.3d 994 (PDF here). The moral of this particular story is that if you want a contract provision to be interpreted as a condition, you had better make sure it’s worded … Read More
Do you remember be and hereby is? In this 2007 post I dubbed it “the lamest drafting usage.” Well, we now have another contender. I can’t believe I haven’t written about it previously. It’s—drum roll, please—agrees to and does hereby. The lameness is something to behold. What makes it particularly lame? Primarily it’s the doubling up of verb structures to express … Read More
Yes, it’s time to return to the shall wars. Thanks to the article by Lori Johnson that I discuss in this post, I’d now like to consider a court opinion that I overlooked when it first appeared. I’m referring to Lubbock County Water Control & Improvement Dist. v. Church & Akin, L.L.C., 442 S.W.3d 297 (Tex. 2014) (PDF here). The Court Opinion … Read More
It’s time for that ever-popular game, Pick the Category of Contract Language! Bob, please tell our viewers what the choices are! Acme shall make all decisions relating to commercializing Licensed Products. [By using language of obligation, this expresses, appropriately, the idea that Widgetco wouldn’t want Acme to ignore what’s required to commercialize products. But it doesn’t express that Acme will be in … Read More
In this 2015 post I suggested that “instead of addressing each deal point in a separate sentence, you can often consolidate them.” When you do that, instead of using two main verbs to cover two deal points, you need only one main verb. But the example I used to illustrate this point ended up being hijacked by a substantive issue. … Read More
This post on ContractsProf Blog by Myanna Dellinger begins as follows: If a recording artist enters into a personal services agreement with a record company that, among other things, contains a promise that the artist will “look solely to [a corporate version of the music band] for the payment of my fees and/or royalties … and will not assert any … Read More
In MSCD 3.248, I recommend that you not use in a contract the terms of art condition precedent and condition subsequent: In a contract, use the term condition rather than condition precedent, which conveys the same meaning but adds an unnecessarily legalistic flavor. You should never need to use condition subsequent, meaning something that, if it occurs, would bring something else to an … Read More
Regular readers of this blog will know that I’m, um, fallible. A recent post offered a brilliant example of that. In this comment, reader John Dorsey mentioned that might conveys a lesser degree of possibility than does may. I expressed doubt about that. John responded by pointing to one of my blog posts. It quotes The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language offering exactly that … Read More
Last week Glenn West—this Glenn West—told me about Pivotal Payments Direct Corp. v. Planet Payment, Inc., No. CVN15C02059 EMD CCLD, 2015 WL 9595285 (Del. Super. Dec. 29, 2015) (PDF here). It involves representations. And warranties. He expected that I would freak. I can see him cackling and rubbing his hands together. Anyone who has read this blog for a while knows that those terms can get … Read More
