Case briefs

Name
Instructor
Course
Date
Case Briefs
Otis F. Wood V. Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon, 222 N.Y. 88; 118 N.E. 214; 1917
Lady Duff-Gordon was an entrepreneur specialized in fashion design. She hired Otis Wood to acquire full rights to her endorsements. The contract granted the plaintiff exclusive rights to market and sell the defendant’s products. The contract was to last for one full year and could be renewed annually. Although he kept his end of the bargain, Wood says Lady Duff-Gordon broke the contract by carrying out her dealings without his knowledge. She also kept the whole amount of profits gained from those dealings, contrary to the terms of their contract which stated that Duff-Gordon was to receive 50% of the profits gained. Wood, therefore, decided to sue her because she had breached their contract (Posse and Esq 86).
The history of the case begun in the lower court, it is at this court where the motion for judgment filed by Lucy was dismissed. This ruling was reversed by the Appellate Division. The plaintiff filed an appeal to challenge the decision. The issue in front of the court was now to determine whether the contract between Otis F. Wood and Lady Duff-Gordon was enforceable. The court’s holding was, yes.
The reasoning behind this holding was that the contract does not categorically state that the plaintiff is obliged to perform any duties in regards to the agreement. However, the same thought can be implied from the contract. The court decided not to focus only on precise words in the document instead it took a broader look at the whole situation.

Wood was granted the rights to find a market for Lucy’s products and the income was to be split in half between the two. This means that the plaintiff was supposed to put in a reasonable amount of effort to find potential customers, proving that Wood held some obligations under the contract, rendering it enforceable. The judgment of the Appellate Division was therefore reversed.
Concurrences: Hiscock, Ch. J., Chase and Crane, JJ.

Work Cited
Posse, O.A and Esq. BIBLIOGRAPHY “A Casebook Study Approach.” An Introduction to Torts, Contracts, Wills and Criminal Law. n.d. 86:88.