CONTRACTS-STATUTE OF FRAUDS-OPTION TO CANCEL IN CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT FOR MORE THAN ONE YEAR AS FULFILLMENT OF STATUTORY REQUIREMENT

Authors

Cornelia Groefsema, University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Abstract

Plaintiff, Hedda Hopper, sued on an oral agreement for her appearance on a weekly radio broadcast, to be sponsored by Andrew Jergen's Company. The contract was for five years, divided into ten twenty-six week periods. Defendant advertising agency reserved an option to cancel the contract by notifying the plaintiff thereof four weeks prior to the end of any twenty-six week period. Plaintiff was to receive $1,250 per week for the first twenty-six weeks with an increase of $250 per week each odd numbered additional period. Defendant repudiated the contract before any performance and plaintiff asks damages amounting to $495,000. A federal district court in California sustained defendant's motion to dismiss plaintiff's case on the basis that the contract being oral and not by its terms to be performed within a year, was invalid under the California Statute of Frauds. Held, reversed. By exercising the option to cancel, one of the alternative modes of performance, the contract could by its terms be performed within a year and was not invalid under the statute. Hopper v. Lennen & Mitchell, Inc., (C.C.A. 9th, 1944) 146 F. (2d) 364.

Recommended Citation

Cornelia Groefsema, CONTRACTS-STATUTE OF FRAUDS-OPTION TO CANCEL IN CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT FOR MORE THAN ONE YEAR AS FULFILLMENT OF STATUTORY REQUIREMENT, 44 Mich. L. Rev. 657 (1946).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol44/iss4/8