Court Opinion

ID: 9713676
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:20:01.122366+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:19.886641
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE HARRISON, dissenting: When construing a contract, the court’s primary objective is to ascertain and give effect to the intention of the parties (see Martin v. City of O’Fallon, 283 Ill. App. 3d 830, 834 (1996)) as shown by the language used in the agreement (In re Doyle, 144 Ill. 2d 451, 468 (1991)). If the language of a contract does not address the agreement’s duration or specify a cancellation event, the contract is normally construed as terminable at will. See, e.g., Bass v. Prime Cable of Chicago, Inc., 284 Ill. App. 3d 116, 126 (1996). The language of the contract in this case, however, does do those things. It specifically provides that the agreement shall continue in force indefinitely unless certain enumerated conditions occur. Where, as here, a contract is terminable upon the occurrence of some event, it is not terminable at will. See First Commodity Traders v. Heinhold Commodities, 766 F.2d 1007, 1012 (7th Cir. 1985) (applying Illinois law). Although the contract before us uses the term “may” in describing Trim-Line’s right to terminate and although it includes “breach of any term or condition of this agreement” as one of the terminating events, the same was true in First Commodity Traders, 766 F.2d at 1012, where the court specifically held that the contract was not terminable at will. A different conclusion was reached in Trient Partners I Ltd. v. Blockbuster Entertainment Corp., 83 F.3d 704, 709 (5th Cir. 1996), cited by the majority. That case, however, applied the law of Texas, not Illinois. If we are going to look to jurisdictions beyond Illinois, where the matter is being litigated, or California, whose law is specified in the contract itself, I do not understand why we should fix on Texas. The law of Texas is certainly no more persuasive than the law of New York, which joins Illinois in holding that the public policy against perpetual contractual commitments is inapplicable to contracts such as this one which provide for termination or cancellation upon the occurrence of specified events. See Payroll Express Corp. v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 659 F.2d 285, 291-92 (2d Cir. 1981); C. Faruki, The Defense of Terminated Dealer Litigation: A Survey of Legal and Strategic Considerations, 46 Ohio St. L.J. 925, 998 n.8 (1985). Flexibility is important to commerce, as the majority observes, but it is not so important that it justifies excusing parties from their valid contractual obligations. Under the terms of the contract here, Trim-Line does not have the right to terminate the agreement at will. The judgment of the appellate court affirming dismissal of Jespersen’s complaint should therefore be reversed, and the cause should be remanded to the circuit court for further proceedings. I therefore dissent. JUSTICE BILANDIC joins in this dissent.