Appellate Law

CA1: juries should not determine the legality of contracts

By S. COTUS

Bohne v. Computer Associates, No. 06-1745.  The plaintiff was a ?sales executive? (I think that means ?saleman.?) He was fired.  One claim reached trial: that despite his at-will employment contract included an "implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing" that entitled him to the commission, even though no commission was due to him under the terms of his contract.  The jury found in the plaintiffs favor, under the theory that provision of his contract which Bohne was denied compensation was itself unlawful.  But, the First says that there is no basis in Massachusetts law for such an instruction, and, quite frankly, it says, good faith and fair dealing doesn?t go to the legality of the contract. 

What is strange about this, is that the First is saying that the judge must determine the legality of the contract, and it will always be wrong to tell the jury to make that determination.  Well, maybe this isn?t too strange. So, the First reverses, saying that since he didn?t ask the judge to strike the a provision as illegal, that issue shouldn?t be taken to the jury.

The First puts in some language about how these cases (under Massachusetts law) should be worked in the future.

Full post as published by Appellate Law and Practice on February 01, 2008 (boomark / email).