Loss Of $6 Million In Deposits Is No Forfeiture

VFLA Eventco, LLC v. William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, LLC, 2024 WL (March 6, 2024) involved the loss of $6 million in deposits that had been paid to secure the performances of various artists at a two day musical festival known as Virgin Fest...

If Corporate Charters Are Contracts, Must They Be Signed By The Corporation Or Shareholders?

Recently, Professor Ann Lipton wrote that the California Supreme Court has granted review of EpicentRx, In.c v. Superior Court, 95 Cal. App. 5th 890 (2023), review granted 539 P.3d 118 (2023).   This was a case that I discussed last September in which...

In This Case, There Was A Balm And It Was Menace

In California, extortion is a crime.  Section 518 of the Penal Code defines "extortion" as "the obtaining of property or other consideration from another, with his or her consent, or the obtaining of an official act of a public officer, induced by a...

Can A Nonsignatory Compel Another Nonsignatory To Arbitrate?

Disputes over whether arbitration may be compelled generally fall into four categories. First, a signatory to an arbitration agreement may seek to compel another signatory to arbitrate. Second, a signatory may seek to compel a nonsignatory to...

Should Contracts Abjure Any Unstated Motivating Purposes?

The City of Oakland was not happy with the decision of the Oakland Raiders football team to move to Las Vegas, Nevada and it was filed a lawsuit alleging that it was a third party beneficiary of the league's relocation policies. In an opinion...

By Law, Everything Is Possible In California

The California Civil Code includes a number of decidedly gnomic provisions.  Section 1597 is one of these.  It purports to answer the question of what is possible:

Howsoever Denominated, This Was Not Promissory Fraud

Parties exchange drafts of a contract and before signing one party surreptitiously substitutes provisions in the copy to be executed.  Some might call this "promissory fraud", but as Justice William Dato explains in an opinion published yesterday,...

Acceptance Or Counteroffer?

A California Court of Appeal opinion published yesterday highlights the importance of understanding how and when a contract is formed. The case from an attorney's letter to an insurance offering to settle his client's claim for bodily injuries in...

Must An Assignment Be In Writing?

Lawyers are sometimes asked to render an opinion that "the [bill of sale] is sufficient as to form to transfer the Company’s right, title and interest in and to the assets specified in the Agreement to the Buyer". Implicit in this opinion request is...

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