W.W.W. Associates, Inc. v. Giancontieri
Court of Appeals of New York
77 N.Y.2d 157, 566 N.E.2d 639 (1990)
Facts
Defendants contracted to sell a parcel of land to the plaintiff. The contract contained a reciprocal cancellation provision stating that if litigation the defendants were involved in at the time did not conclude by a certain date, either party may cancel the contract. In addition, the contract contained a merger clause stating that the contract was the parties’ full agreement and that all prior agreements between them were merged into the contract. The defendants’ litigation was still ongoing when the relevant date passed, and the defendants cancelled the contract. The plaintiff brought suit for specific performance, claiming that the cancellation provision was meant to apply to the plaintiff only and offering to introduce extrinsic evidence of the origination of the clause.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Kaye, 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.
