Harcourt Devs. v States Dev. Co. [2014] 1 JLR 472 (09 April 2014)

Harcourt Devs. v States Dev. Co. [2014] 1 JLR 472 (09 April 2014)

The court held that while an agreement to agree in good faith is generally too uncertain to be enforceable, where there is agreement as to essential terms and a commitment to negotiate in good faith, with a provision that repudiation of core terms would be a breach, such an agreement may be sufficiently certain to have contractual effect. Therefore, the claim for inducing breach of such an agreement should not be struck out as disclosing no reasonable cause of action, particularly as this may be a developing area of law.

Citation
[2014] 1 JLR 472
Parties
Claimant: Harcourt Developers; Defendant: States Development Company
Jurisdiction
Jersey
Judgment Date
09 April 2014
Procedural Posture
Civil / Application to Strike Out Claim
Outcome
application to strike out claim dismissed
Legal Topics
Agreement to Agree, Certainty of Terms, Good Faith Negotiation, Inducing Breach of Contract
Contract Law Agreement to Agree Certainty of Terms Good Faith Negotiation Inducing Breach of Contract

Case Brief

Summary, issues, holding and outcome

More case intelligence is available

Unlock the full research layer for this judgment.

Full judgment text Downloadable case file Legal principles 2 Party arguments 2
Sign in to unlock

Parties

Harcourt Developers

Claimant

States Development Company

Defendant

Procedural Posture

Civil / Application to Strike Out Claim

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Whether an agreement to negotiate in good faith is sufficiently certain to be enforceable
  2. 2 Whether a claim for inducing breach of such an agreement discloses a reasonable cause of action

Ratio Decidendi

The court held that while an agreement to agree in good faith is generally too uncertain to be enforceable, where there is agreement as to essential terms and a commitment to negotiate in good faith, with a provision that repudiation of core terms would be a breach, such an agreement may be sufficiently certain to have contractual effect. Therefore, the claim for inducing breach of such an agreement should not be struck out as disclosing no reasonable cause of action, particularly as this may be a developing area of law.

Court Disposition

application to strike out claim dismissed

Orders

  • claim not struck out