Fursmidt v. Hotel Abbey Holding Corp.

Plaintiff and his father had been rendering valet and laundry services for the Hotel Abbey for a number of years. The plaintiff entered into a three-year contract with the defendant. Approximately eight months into the contract, the defendant informed the plaintiff that he was going to discontinue plaintiff's services. The plaintiff then removed from the premises and was paid $250 per month by a third party that resumed laundry services. The plaintiff claims that defendant had no right to terminate the contract.

"Provisions in agreements calling for performance to the satisfaction of a party fall into two general categories. In contracts relating to operative fitness, utility or marketability the provision 'is construed as a matter of law as imposing only the requisite of satisfying a reasonable man.' . . . On the other hand a literal construction of the "satisfaction" provisions is made where the agreements provide for performance involving "fancy, taste, sensibility, or judgment" of the party for whose benefit it was made. . . ."

Contract Duties | Conditions of Satisfaction