Court Opinion

ID: 9649662
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 15:05:15.263194+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:13.529741
License: Public Domain

MANDERINO, Justice
(dissenting).
I dissent. Contrary to the majority’s finding that the agreement was ambiguous because of its failure to provide expressly for the release of appellant Jenofsky from personal liability, I find clear on the face of paragraph 19 of the agreement an intention to release Jenofsky from personal liability upon the mere formation of the proposed corporation, provided the incorporation was completed prior to the scheduled closing date. According to paragraph 19, once the incorporation was completed, “all agreements . . . [would] be construed to have been made between the seller and the resultant corporation . . . .”
It is inconceivable to me how the majority can agree with the Chancellor’s finding that Jenofsky was to be personally responsible until the new corporation in some way adopted the agreement. There is no language anywhere in the agreement to suggest such a far-fetched interpretation. Paragraph 19 clearly states that Jenofsky was to be released from personal liability as soon as the corporation was formed.
Nor is it our duty to decide the logic, or lack of logic, of the parties in entering into this agreement. This was not a contract of adhesion, and, just because we might not have entered into the same contract, we nevertheless cannot read beyond its clearly intended meaning. I would therefore reverse the decision of the court en banc.