Defenses to Remedies

Question 1

Undue Hardship

Answer 1

Applies to Injunctions and SOME Restitution, not Monetary though. You can’t just say you don’t want to pay it

General Rule: A court will deny injunctive relief if compliance causes defendant excessive cost, inconvenience, or other difficulty. Court balances hardship to D if injunction is granted against hardship; to P if injunction is denied. Defense to equitable remedies
Example: Skyscraper encroaches 6 inches onto neighboring land. Court will not grant injunction because it’s unreasonable to remove

Question 2

Unconscionability

Answer 2

General rule: In an action for specific performance, a court may refuse to enforce a contract provision of a contract that is unfair or oppressive because of abuses during contract formation or because of overreaching contractual terms.
Courts are wary of terms that are unreasonably favorable to one party while precluding meaningful choice for the other party, that is, the contract is excessively one-sided.

Question 3

Unclean Hands

Answer 3

General rule: A party is barred from seeking equitable relief or assert an equitable defense if that party has violated an equitable principle, such as good faith. One who comes into equity must come with clean hands and may not have engaged in unethical or immoral conduct directly related to the subject of the litigation. A party who has done so is described as having “unclean hands”.

Question 4

In Pari Delicto (“in Equal Fault”)

Answer 4

The party seeking legal or equitable relief is barred from recovery because he or she is at least equally at fault. This requires the court to balance the conduct of the parties to see whether they stand in pari delicto, this is whether the plaintiff is less than 50% responsible.

Question 5

Estoppel

Answer 5

The defense of estoppel will prevent a person from asserting a claim or right if there is a good faith reliance on what that person has said or done earlier and in injury or detrimental change of position results.

Question 6

Waiver (For Contract Only)

Answer 6

Waiver is the intentional relinquishment of a known right. Defendant need not provide reliance in waiver. Waiver often takes the form of a provision in a contract. A waiver can be inferred from conduct as well as words. An Implied waiver based on conduct must be proven by clear and convincing evidence.
Only when there is express agreement int he contract

Question 7

Laches

Answer 7

The defense of laches bars recovery when plaintiff has unreasonably delayed bringing suit against defendant and therefore the suit causes defendant to suffer prejudice because of the unreasonable delay. It generally requires that P puts D on notice that P wishes to assert a claim against D, but then P unreasonably delays doing so. Also termed sleeping on rights.

Question 8

Statute of Limitations

Answer 8

SOL bars claims brought after the time limits set by statute. SOL defenses tend to be relatively inflexible

Question 9

Bonafide Purchasers

Answer 9

As a general rule, the original owner prevails over an innocent bona fide purchaser. However, if the bona fide purchaser acquires legal title, the purchaser will prevail. The standard rule is that a seller cannot convey a better title than that which he holds (subject to exceptions summarized below). With respect to stolen goods, the original owner almost always prevails over the BFP. Some jurisdictions allow the bonafide purchaser for value to obtain better legal title over the owner.

Question 10

Exceptions to Bonafide Purchasers

Answer 10

Voidable Title. Where the money or securities are put into the market and acquired by a BFP, then the BFP gains voidable title. Thus, if B obtains goods from A by fraud (e.g., B pays with counterfeit money or a bad check), B receives a voidable title; A must take action to void it. If B immediately re-sells the goods to C, C is a BFP and A will not be likely to be able to get the goods back from C.

Estoppel. The owner may also lose to BFP under the principle of estoppel. If A expressly or impliedly represents that B is the owner of her goods or has the authority to sell them, A cannot recover if C buys the goods in good faith from B. Example: Consumer leaves his watch with Jeweler for repairs. Jeweler is in the business of selling used watches as well as repairing them. Consumer knows this. Six months go by and Consumer makes no attempt to pick up the watch or pay for the repairs. Jeweler sells the watch to Purchaser, who pays fair market value and does not suspect that Jeweler does not own the watch. Consumer is likely to be estopped from recovering against Purchaser.