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George Mason School of Law

George Mason School of Law. Contracts II Specific Performance F.H. Buckley fbuckley@gmu.edu. When will specific performance be granted?. And why are money damages the presumptive remedy?. Restatement § 359(1): The primacy of money damages.

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George Mason School of Law

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  1. George Mason School of Law Contracts II Specific Performance F.H. Buckley fbuckley@gmu.edu

  2. When will specific performance be granted? • And why are money damages the presumptive remedy?

  3. Restatement § 359(1): The primacy of money damages • Specific performance or an injunction will not be ordered if damages would be adequate to protect the expectation interest of the injured party.

  4. When will specific performance be granted then? • Suppose the parties bargain for specific performance?

  5. Equitable remedies are discretionary • The clean hands maxim • Restatement 364(1)(a) Specific performance or an injunction will be refused if such relief would be unfair because the contract was induced by mistake or by unfair practices...or

  6. Equitable remedies are discretionary • The court’s supervisory power • Restatement 365: Specific performance or an injunction will not be granted if the act or the forbearance … is contrary to public policy

  7. Equitable remedies are discretionary • Difficulty of enforcement • Restatement 366: Where the character and magnitude of the performance would impose on the court burdens in enforcement or supervision that are disproportionate to the advantage to be gained from enforcement and to the harm that would be suffered by ots denial

  8. Remedies are meant to avoid economic waste • But just what does that mean?

  9. Subjective valuation problems • Condition vs Warranties • Jacob & Youngs • Grun Roofing

  10. Given subjective valuations, when would the parties bargain for specific performance?

  11. Given subjective valuations, when would the parties bargain for specific performance? • Things of idiosyncratic value to a purchaser • Subjective value to Π exceeds market value • Courts would flub subjective value

  12. When money doesn’t suffice • Restatement § 360 In determining whether the remedy in damages would be adequate, the following circumstances are significant: • (a) the difficulty of proving damages with reasonable certainty, • (b) the difficulty of procuring a suitable substitute performance by means of money awarded as damages, and • (c) the likelihood that an award of damages could not be collected.

  13. When would the parties bargain for specific performance? • Why Land: Lucy v. Zehmer at 17 “Tis the only thing worth fighting for, worth dying for”

  14. When would the parties bargain for specific performance? • Why Land?

  15. When would the parties bargain for specific performance? • Why Land? • Idiosyncratic?

  16. When would the parties bargain for specific performance? • Why Land? • Idiosyncratic? • Ease of Enforcement

  17. When would the parties bargain for specific performance? • Why Land? • Idiosyncratic? • Ease of Enforcement • Ease of renegotiation to a higher-valued third party

  18. Van Wagner 108

  19. Van Wagner 108 • Why didn’t clause 1.05 work? • And why wasn’t specific performance ordered?

  20. What about personalty? • On a sale of goods, when can the parties enforce the bargain?

  21. What about personalty? • On a sale of goods, when can the parties enforce the bargain? • Formerly, special rights when property has passed

  22. What about personalty? • The UCC unpacks the idea of property and substitutes “identification”

  23. What about personalty? • After identification • Seller’s action for the price • Buyer’s action in replevin

  24. Seller’s action for the price under 2-709(1) • When the buyer fails to pay the price as it becomes due the seller may recover, together with any incidental damages under the next section, the price • (a) of goods accepted or of conforming goods lost or damaged within a commercially reasonable time after risk of their loss has passed to the buyer; and • (b) of goods identified to the contractif the selleris unable after reasonable effort to resell them at a reasonable price or the circumstances reasonably indicate that such effort will be unavailing.

  25. Seller’s action for the price under 2-709(1) • When the buyer fails to pay the price as it becomes due the seller may recover, together with any incidental damages under the next section, the price • (a) of goods accepted or of conforming goods lost or damaged within a commercially reasonable time after risk of their loss has passed to the buyer; and • (b) of goods identified to the contractif the selleris unable after reasonable effort to resell them at a reasonable price or the circumstances reasonably indicate that such effort will be unavailing.

  26. Buyer’s action in Replevin: UCC § 2-716(3) • The buyer has a right of replevin for goods identified to the contract if after reasonable effort he is unable to effect cover for such goods or the circumstances reasonably indicate that such effort will be unavailing or if the goods have been shipped under reservation and satisfaction of the security interest in them has been made or tendered.

  27. Buyer’s action in Replevin: UCC § 2-716(3) • The buyer has a right of replevin for goods identified to the contract if after reasonable effort he is unable to effect cover for such goods or the circumstances reasonably indicate that such effort will be unavailing or if the goods have been shipped under reservation and satisfaction of the security interest in them has been made or tendered.

  28. Buyer’s action in Replevin: UCC § 2-716(3) • The buyer has a right of replevin for goods identified to the contract if after reasonable effort he is unable to effect cover for such goods or the circumstances reasonably indicate that such effort will be unavailing or if the goods have been shipped under reservation and satisfaction of the security interest in them has been made or tendered.

  29. So when does identification happen? UCC § 2-501: • In the absence of explicit agreement identification occurs (a) when the contract is made if it is for the sale of goods already existing and identified; (b) if the contract is for the sale of future goods other than those described in paragraph (c), when goods are shipped, marked or otherwise designated by the seller as goods to which the contract refers

  30. So when does identification happen? UCC § 2-501 • In the absence of explicit agreement identification occurs (a) when the contract is made if it is for the sale of goods already existing and identified; (b) if the contract is for the sale of future goods other than those described in paragraph (c), when goods are shipped, marked or otherwise designated by the seller as goods to which the contract refers

  31. Things of idiosyncratic value: Heirlooms The Pusey Horn

  32. Beyond heirlooms? • Sedmak at 880 1978 Corvette Pace Car

  33. When do damages not suffice? • What kind of a doctor would want seven Corvettes?

  34. When do damages not suffice? • Was there a contract?

  35. When do damages not suffice? • Was there a contract? • Deposit paid, sale at MSRP with options • After the changes, dealer to provide a “contract”

  36. When do damages not suffice? • Ascertained or future goods?

  37. When do damages not suffice? • What about the Statute of Frauds?

  38. When do damages not suffice? • What about Specific Performance?

  39. Specific Performance for buyers in UCC § 2-716(1): • Specific performance may be decreed where the goods are unique or in other proper circumstances.

  40. Specific Performance for buyers in the UCC • Does the UCC expand the availability of SP? • Why “other proper circumstances” in Sedmak?

  41. Specific Performance for buyersin the UCC • Why “proper circumstances” in Sedmak? • Limited production and availability problems 41

  42. Specific Performance for buyers in the UCC • Why “proper circumstances” in Sedmak? • Limited production and availability problems • Rise in price? • Why wouldn’t cover and damages suffice? 42

  43. George Mason School of Law Contracts II Specific Performance F.H. Buckley fbuckley@gmu.edu

  44. A presumptive remedy on the sale of land

  45. Things of idiosyncratic value: Heirlooms The Pusey Horn

  46. Buyer’s action in Replevin: UCC § 2-716(3) • The buyer has a right of replevin for goods identified to the contract if after reasonable effort he is unable to effect cover for such goods or the circumstances reasonably indicate that such effort will be unavailing or if the goods have been shipped under reservation and satisfaction of the security interest in them has been made or tendered.

  47. Prior to identification under UCC § 2-716(1): • Specific performance may be decreed where the goods are unique or in other proper circumstances.

  48. A more generous interpretation? • Sedmak at 880 1978 Corvette Pace Car

  49. Klein v. Pepsico 112 The Law School’s Gulfstream G-II The “Efficient Breach”

  50. Why Pepsico backed out Pepsi Chairman Donald Kendall pours Nikita Khrushchev a Pepsi as Richard Nixon observes greedily, 1959

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