Olympia Hotels Corp. v. Johnson Wax Development Corp.
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
908 F.2d 1363 (1990)
Facts
Racine Hotel Partners (Racine) (defendant) hired Olympia Hotels Corporation (Olympia) (plaintiff) to build and operate a hotel. Olympia built the hotel, but it was not a successful business. Olympia brought suit against Racine, alleging breach of contract and civil conspiracy arising from Racine’s conduct after the contract was signed. Racine filed counterclaims for breach of contract and fraudulent inducement. Racine’s counterclaim alleged that Olympia had not used its best efforts to make the hotel a success, as the contract required. The district court judge severed Racine’s counterclaim for fraudulent inducement. The district court held a trial on Olympia’s contract and conspiracy claims and Racine’s contract counterclaim. The judge directed a verdict for Olympia on Racine’s contract counterclaim, and directed a verdict for Racine on Olympia’s conspiracy claim. The jury returned a verdict for Olympia on its contract claim. Both parties appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Posner, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 710,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 44,600 briefs, keyed to 983 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.
