Law School Memory #29: Cases

Prof. Contracts' method of calling on people to brief a case for the class was to ask, "Student Out of Luck's Name, would you like to volunteer to do this case for the class?" He would then mark off that student's name on his roll sheet to make sure everyone got called on once and then going through it again. Well I made it through the first semester without having been called on to volunteer but he eventually got to me in the second semester. And it so happened to be on the day when my friends took me out to Grand Lux for lunch to celebrate my birthday. Of course, I had a drink of JD neat and being the lightweight I am I was feeling the effects of it as we made our way back to school for Contracts.

So there I am, sitting in my front row seat, slightly inebriated, lightly going over the highlighted text in my casebook, thinking there's no way I would get called on - so I'm not pressing myself to understand it, but also thinking how funny it might be if I were to be called on, and then I heard my luck had run out, "Wayne, would you like to volunteer to do this case for the class?" And it wasn't funny, but I did manage a grin to myself. I rushed through the case, my speech a bit slurred perhaps but it probably came more across as incoherent mumbling, as I managed to get through it without evidencing my slight inebriation. I think. Bunny later told me that Arpineh said it would have been funnier if I had drank more. Anyway here's the case:

This is a breach of contract case. Plaintiff, Kelsey-Hayes Company (Kelsey-Hayes), alleges defendant, Galtaco Redlaw Castings Corporation (Galtaco) [FN1], breached a three-year agreement (the 1987 contract) for the purchase of castings. In addition *795 to the damages allegedly suffered as a result of the breach of the 1987 contract, Kelsey-Hayes seeks a declaratory judgment that it does not have to pay Galtaco price increases to which it agreed in 1989. Kelsey-Hayes asserts the 1989 contract modifications (1989 agreements) containing the price increases (1) were agreed to by Kelsey-Hayes under duress, (2) were unconscionable, (3) were demanded by Galtaco in bad faith and (4) constitute unjust enrichment to Galtaco. Galtaco says in response that Kelsey-Hayes waived its breach of contract claims and, in addition, argues that the defenses Kelsey-Hayes raises regarding the validity of the 1989 agreements have no merit. Kelsey-Hayes Co. v. Galtaco Redlaw Castings Corp., 749 F.Supp. 794 (E.D.Mich., 1990)