In this May 2007 blog post I mentioned the dispute between Crusader Entertainment and schlockmeister Clive Cussler. In this post, the ContractsProf Blog provides the latest installment in this gripping saga—an opinion by a California appellate court. Here’s the bit that caught my eye: On the key issue in the appeal, the court found that Cussler had a contractual right … Read More
My recent post on stand-alone purchase orders prompted a related thought: When you issue a stand-alone purchase order (in other words, one not issued under a master contract), you could incorporate the general terms (in other words, everything that doesn’t relate to deal-specific matters such as product and price) in different ways. You could include them with the purchase order, … Read More
You sometimes see a contract that has a paragraph entitled “Acknowledgement” added at the end, after the party signatures. For example, a search on the SEC’s EDGAR system quickly retrieved this document, a “forebearance agreement and amendment to indenture” between Gulfstream International Group, Inc. and Shelter Island Opportunity Fund, LLC. Here’s what came after their signature blocks: ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND AGREEMENT … Read More
I received the following inquiry from a reader: As you know, goods or services can be purchased by means of purchase orders issued under a master contract or by POs that aren’t issued under a master contract—I’ll refer to the latter as “stand-alone” POs. They can be issued for one-off purchases or on a regular basis as part of an … Read More
It’s a bad idea to draft a provision so that its meaning changes significantly when you remove a comma. For one thing, commas have a way of disappearing in the course of revisions. And if a party is disgruntled enough, it might not be inclined to let a pesky little comma block its march to the courthouse. More prosaically, avoiding … Read More
Without any editorializing by me, here’s an extract from this article by Sathnam Sanghera in the Times Online: On the one hand, written agreements protect parties if things go wrong and provide a useful framework for engagement. But, on the other, drafting contracts slows business down—something Stephen Covey emphasises in The Speed of Trust: The One Thing that Changes Everything, … Read More
[Updated 12:05 p.m. EST Feb. 24, 2010] Three variations on a closing theme: Does “Closing” Refer to a Process or a Moment in Time? Does closing mean the moment a transaction is consummated? Or does it refer to the process leading up to that moment, with contracts being finalized and signed, opinions being issued, and funds being sent whizzing through … Read More
In this January 2008 blog post I noted that the requirements for what constitutes a “contract under seal” have been relaxed to the point of ludicrousness. But I also noted that in some states whether a contract is under seal has a bearing on which statute of limitations applies. From @Richards1000‘s prolific Twitter outpouring I learned today of this post … Read More
Thanks to the Legal Writing Prof Blog, I learned of an article entitled “The Ethics of Contract Drafting.” It’s by Gregory M. Duhl, associate professor at William Mitchell College of Law. It will be appearing in the Lewis & Clark Law Review, but for those who can’t wait, it’s available on SSRN by clicking here. Here’s the abstract: This Article provides … Read More
One of the chapters of MSCD that I sweated most over was chapter 10, “Ambiguity of the Part Versus the Whole.” Here’s the first paragraph: Use of plural nouns and the words and, or, every, each, and any can result in ambiguity. In each case, the question is whether it is a single member of a group of two or … Read More
