Corthell v. Summit Thread Co.
Maine Supreme Judicial Court
167 A. 79 (1933)
- Written by Rich Walter, JD
Facts
Robert Corthell (plaintiff) signed a five-year contract with his employer, Summit Thread Company (Summit) (defendant). The contract provided that Summit would increase Corthell’s salary and pay an extra $3,500 to obtain the rights to three devices that Corthell had invented and that Summit could apply to its business. The contract also provided that Corthell would assign to Summit the rights to any other devices he might invent, in return for which Summit promised to provide Corthell with “reasonable recognition.” Summit reserved to itself the right to determine what form that recognition would take. The contract stipulated that it should be interpreted “in good faith on the basis of what is reasonable and intended, and not technically.” Over the next five years, Corthell turned over to Summit the rights to four new inventions, for which Summit paid him nothing, promising only to “fix him up all right” when it came time to renew his contract. At the end of the five years, Summit fired Corthell, and he sued Summit for breach of contract in the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Sturgis, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
