Holman v. Coie
Washington Court of Appeals
522 P.2d 515 (1974)
- Written by Rich Walter, JD
Facts
The brothers Francis and William Holman (plaintiffs) were partners in the Coie law firm (defendant) and sat on the firm’s governing executive committee. The firm’s partnership agreement gave a majority of the executive committee’s 10 members the right to expel any lawyer from the firm. Over time, relations frayed between the Holmans and their colleagues on the executive committee. Seven committee members (defendants) voted to expel the Holmans from the firm. The Holmans sued, alleging that their opponents breached the partnership agreement by failing to give the Holmans proper notice or an opportunity to be heard and by expelling the Holmans without cause and for no stated reason. The Holmans’ suit drew wide negative publicity and dragged on for almost four years. Following the trial court’s dismissal of the suit, the Holmans appealed to the Washington Court of Appeals.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Munson, 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. 46,400 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.
