Case Library
Contracts case briefs
28 briefs in 10 topics. Each one gives the facts, issue and holding, IRAC and CREAC versions, key quotes with pinpoint pages and the citation in the book’s form.
Offer and acceptance
Offer and acceptance on its own pageDavis v. Jacoby
Davis v. Jacoby, 34 P.2d 1026 (Cal. 1934).
Was Whitehead's April 12th letter an offer to enter into a bilateral contract that could be accepted by a promise, or a unilateral contract that could be accepted only by performance?
Supreme Court of California
Lucy v. Zehmer
Lucy v. Zehmer, 84 S.E.2d 516 (Va. 1954).
Did the writing the Zehmers signed form a binding contract to sell the Ferguson farm, even though Zehmer claimed he was jesting when he signed it?
Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia
Lefkowitz v. Great Minneapolis Surplus Store, Inc.
Lefkowitz v. Great Minneapolis Surplus Store, Inc., 86 N.W.2d 689 (Minn. 1957).
Was the store's newspaper ad for the lapin stole an offer that Lefkowitz could accept, or only an invitation to make an offer?
Minnesota Supreme Court
ProCD, Inc. v. Zeidenberg
ProCD, Inc. v. Zeidenberg, 86 F.3d 1447 (7th Cir. 1996).
Is a shrinkwrap license, whose terms are inside the box and not printed on the outside, an enforceable contract when the buyer uses the software after having a chance to read the terms and to return it?
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Hill v. Gateway 2000, Inc.
Hill v. Gateway 2000, Inc., 105 F.3d 1147 (7th Cir. 1997).
Do the terms in the box, which the customer could reject by returning the computer within 30 days, become the parties' contract, so that the arbitration clause binds the Hills even though no terms were read to them on the phone?
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Leonard v. PepsiCo, Inc.
Leonard v. PepsiCo, Inc., 88 F. Supp. 2d 116 (S.D.N.Y. 1999).
Did the Pepsi Stuff television commercial constitute an offer of a Harrier Jet that Leonard could accept by submitting an order form?
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
Klocek v. Gateway, Inc.
Klocek v. Gateway, Inc., 104 F. Supp. 2d 1332 (D. Kan. 2000).
Under Kansas or Missouri law, did Klocek agree to Gateway's Standard Terms, including the arbitration clause, by keeping the computer more than five days after delivery?
United States District Court for the District of Kansas
Fairmount Glass Works v. Crunden-Martin Wooden Ware Co.
Fairmount Glass Works v. Crunden-Martin Wooden Ware Co., 51 S.W. 196 (Ky. App. 1899).
Was Fairmount's April 23 letter a definite offer to sell that Crunden-Martin could accept, or only a quotation of prices that left the buyer's order open to acceptance or refusal?
Kentucky Court of Appeals
Embry v. Hargadine, McKittrick Dry Goods Co.
Embry v. Hargadine, 105 S.W. 777 (Mo. Ct. App. 1907).
Does a contract arise from the words and acts of the parties as a reasonable person would understand them, or must both parties actually intend to contract, so that the jury had to find that intent?
St. Louis Court of Appeals
Consideration
Consideration on its own pageAlaska Packers’ Association v. Domenico
Alaska Packers’ Ass’n v. Domenico, 117 F. 99 (9th Cir. 1902).
Assuming the company's superintendent had authority to make the contract of May 22, was the company's promise of higher pay supported by a sufficient consideration?
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Fiege v. Boehm
Fiege v. Boehm, 123 A.2d 316 (Md. 1956).
Is a woman's promise not to bring bastardy proceedings sufficient consideration for the putative father's promise to pay for the child's support, when blood tests later indicated he could not be the father and he was acquitted?
Court of Appeals of Maryland
Angel v. Murray
Angel v. Murray, 322 A.2d 630 (R.I. 1974).
Does the Newport charter provision allowing contract alterations when authorized by the council on the city manager's written recommendation bar the council from amending a contract without that recommendation?
Supreme Court of Rhode Island
Promissory estoppel
Promissory estoppel on its own pageFeinberg v. Pfeiffer Co.
Feinberg v. Pfeiffer Co., 322 S.W.2d 163 (Mo. Ct. App. 1959).
Did continued employment after the board's resolution, or past years of service, supply consideration (something given in exchange) that made the company's pension promise a binding contract?
St. Louis Court of Appeals
Congregation Kadimah Toras-Moshe v. DeLeo
Congregation Kadimah Toras-Moshe v. DeLeo, 540 N.E.2d 691 (Mass. 1989).
Was the decedent's oral promise to give the Congregation $25,000 an enforceable contract, because it was supported either by consideration and bargain or by reliance?
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Parol evidence
Parol evidence on its own pageGianni v. R. Russell & Co.
Gianni v. R. Russel & Co., 126 A. 791 (Pa. 1924).
Where a written lease is complete on its face, can the tenant prove an oral promise of exclusive soft-drink rights and recover damages for its breach, when he alleges no fraud, accident or mistake?
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Columbia Nitrogen Corporation v. Royster Company
Columbia Nitrogen Corp. v. Royster Co., 451 F.2d 3 (4th Cir. 1971).
Under the Uniform Commercial Code as adopted in Virginia, must a court first find a written contract ambiguous before it admits evidence of trade usage and course of dealing?
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
Interpretation
Interpretation on its own pageWood v. Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon
Wood v. Lucy, 118 N.E. 214 (N.Y. 1917).
Did Wood's exclusive-agency agreement with Lady Duff-Gordon contain an implied promise by Wood to use reasonable efforts, so that it was a contract, even though the writing did not state that promise in so many words?
New York Court of Appeals
Frigaliment Importing Co. v. B.N.S. International Sales Corp.
Frigaliment Importing Co. v. B.N.S. Int’l Sales Corp., 190 F. Supp. 116 (S.D.N.Y. 1960).
Did the contracts use “chicken” in the narrower sense of young birds suitable for broiling and frying, or in the broader sense of any bird of that genus meeting the specifications?
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
Defenses to enforcement
Defenses to enforcement on its own pageSherwood v. Walker
Sherwood v. Walker, 33 N.W. 919 (Mich. 1887).
Was it clear as a matter of law that title to the cow could not pass until she was weighed, or was the parties' intent under the letter and delivery order a question of fact for the jury?
Michigan Supreme Court
Austin Instrument, Inc. v. Loral Corp.
Austin Instrument, Inc. v. Loral Corp., 272 N.E.2d 533 (N.Y. 1971).
Did Austin's threat to stop delivering parts under an existing contract, unless Loral agreed to higher prices and gave Austin a new order, amount to economic duress as a matter of law?
New York Court of Appeals
Conditions and performance
Conditions and performance on its own pageLuttinger v. Rosen
Luttinger v. Rosen, 316 A.2d 757 (Conn. 1972).
Did the buyers use due diligence in seeking mortgage financing when they applied only to the one lending institution that might meet the contract's terms?
Connecticut Supreme Court
Breach and repudiation
Breach and repudiation on its own pageK & G Construction Co. v. Harris
K & G Constr. Co. v. Harris, 164 A.2d 451 (Md. 1960).
Does a contractor, damaged by a subcontractor's failure to perform work in a workmanlike manner, have a right, under the circumstances of this case, to withhold an installment payment that was otherwise due under the contract?
Court of Appeals of Maryland
Remedies
Remedies on its own pageSullivan v. O'Connor
Sullivan v. O’Connor, 296 N.E.2d 183 (Mass. 1973).
May a patient recover from a surgeon for breach of a promise to achieve a result, and what must the patient show to prove the promise?
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Freund v. Washington Square Press, Inc.
Freund v. Wash. Square Press, Inc., 314 N.E.2d 419 (N.Y. 1974).
Is the cost to the author of publishing the book himself the proper measure of damages when a publisher breaches a contract to publish his manuscript?
New York Court of Appeals
Van Wagner Advertising Corp. v. S & M Enterprises
Van Wagner Advert. Corp. v. S & M Enters., 492 N.E.2d 756 (N.Y. 1986).
Did S & M breach the lease by cancelling it under section 1.05, when the parties disagreed about whether a buyer of the building, and not only a seller, could cancel?
New York Court of Appeals
Britton v. Turner
Britton v. Turner, 6 N.H. 481 (Super. Ct. 1834).
Can a laborer who voluntarily fails to finish a year's work under a special contract recover the reasonable value of the labor he actually performed, even though he cannot sue on the contract itself?
New Hampshire Superior Court
Third parties
Third parties on its own pageLawrence v. Fox
Lawrence v. Fox, 20 N.Y. 268 (1859).
Was the testimony of the person present, who heard Holly's directions about paying the money he was advancing to Fox, incompetent hearsay?
New York Court of Appeals
Seaver v. Ransom
Seaver v. Ransom, 120 N.E. 639 (N.Y. 1918).
Does equity impress a trust in plaintiff's favor on Beman's property because he promised his wife that he would provide for plaintiff in his own will?
New York Court of Appeals