Wood v. Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon - Case Brief PDF

Preview

Summary

Case Brief...

Description

Contracts II

Class 10

Wood v. Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon Court: Court of Appeals of New York (1917)

Facts: Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon (DF) was a fashion designer/labeler who hired Wood (PL) to put her endorsements on various articles of clothing/jewelry. They would split the profits. PL brought this lawsuit when DF held all the profit for herself.

Issues: Whether PL was an employee of DF, as implied in the contract.

Procedural History: The trial court found for PL, the intermediate court reversed.

Judgement: Reversed in favor of the PL.

Reasoning: The law has outgrown its primitive stage of formalism when the precise word was the sovereign talisman, and every slip was fatal. The evidence supports the implication of a promise her. The acceptance of the exclusive agency was an assumption of DF’s duties. The court does not suppose that one party was to be placed at the mercy of the other. Many other terms promote this view. Her sole compensation for this grant was one-half of the profits, unless he gave efforts, she got nothing. Without an implied promise, the transaction cannot have such business “efficiency, as both parties must have intended that at all events it should have.”

Rules: An agreement will be inferred when both parties intend to benefit from the arrangement....