To Err is Human, To Rescind-Declined

The July 2013 Louisiana Bar Examination results are set to be announced on October 11, 2013. Until then, applicants have but a few remaining hours to ponder whether the recent changes to the bar examination will have the same negative effect on passage rates as they did last year.

On October 19, 2011, the Louisiana Supreme Court ordered the implementation of the first changes to the grading standards of the Louisiana Bar exam since the exam was instituted. These changes: began "compensatory scoring;" eliminated essay portions of the test; included "multiple choice" format portions; doubled the score value of the "Code subjects;" ended the "conditional failure" status; and, placed a five-time limit on unsuccessful attempts to pass. Under the new rules, an applicant must score a 650 or higher or will be required to retake the nine (9) section, week-long test encompassing over twenty one (21) hours of testing.

These changes did not go unopposed. The LSU Paul Hebert Law Center submitted a position paper to the Louisiana Supreme Court arguing against compensatory scoring. In support of its position, LSU cited the analysis of the Louisiana Supreme Court Committee on Bar Admissions which indicated that a sizable number of applicants could pass the bar under compensatory scoring, even though they failed two or more of the Code subjects.

Prior to implementation of the new rules, many feared that the changes would cause an artificial increase in the number of applicants who passed the bar. However, the exact opposite has occurred. The first examination under the new method was administered during July, 2012. The overall applicant passage rate was 61.32%, an 11.08% drop in the passage rate. The February 2013 examination demonstrated a similar decline. The February 2013 examination passage rate was 40.65%, a 12.95% drop from February 2012.

At this time, it is unknown whether the decline in the overall passage rate will become the "new norm." It has been suggested that passage rates will return to historical levels over time. Until then, applicants will continue to ponder, and the attorneys at Keogh Cox will continue to wish them luck.

In response to Hurricane Ida, the Louisiana Supreme Court issued three Orders which affect litigation in Louisiana:

Proceeding before the Supreme Court

• The Supreme Court Clerk of Court’s office will be closed until September 19, 2021. All filings due during this period of closure shall be deemed timely filed if filed on or before Monday, September 20, 2021.
• Cases scheduled to be heard on the September docket (September 7-9) are postponed to the October docket, the week of October 18, 2021.

Civil Cases Statewide

• All prescriptive and peremptive periods are hereby suspended statewide for a period of thirty days commencing from August 26, 2021.
• All periods of abandonment are hereby suspended statewide for thirty days commencing from August 26, 2021.

Criminal Matters

• The Court also extended time periods in criminal matters but limited the order to parishes most impacted by the storm.

Individual District Courts and Courts of Appeal may take additional actions because of the damage and loss of power experienced in multiple areas of the state.

Intuitively, contracting parties in commercial transactions understand that legal consequences follow a breach of contract: If a party fails to deliver a product as promised, the breaching party can be liable for the cost to correct the breach; but what is that cost?

Say, for example, a business cancels an order to provide parts to a long-time customer because the relationship has gone sour. Legally, the liability for that breach of contract may extend beyond the cost of the order. A breaching party is liable for damages that are a direct consequence of the failure to perform and that were foreseeable at the time the contract was made, which may include lost profit. If the breach was intentional or malicious, the party's liability may extend even to direct damages that were not foreseeable.

The business that cancelled the order now faces a jury’s decision to identify the direct and foreseeable losses, a decision that, by its nature, is vague. However, the law imposes a limit on the jury’s prerogative to decide the damages. Even for a bad faith breach of contract, liability arises only for the direct, immediate consequences of the breach and there should be no liability for damages determined to be remote, indirect, or that have no necessary relation to the breach.

In a recent case, a jury found that a defendant boat engine manufacturer breached its contract with plaintiff boat manufacturer by cancelling a purchase order for engines, and further, that the engine manufacturer was in bad faith. The jury awarded $1.8 million in foreseeable lost revenues and $1.3 million in unforeseeable lost profits. The trial court threw out the “unforeseen” portion of the award because it was not a direct damage, and emphasized that a breaching party does not “become the insurer for all misfortunes that may arise from the breach.”

The boat manufacturer had argued that the cash flow expected from the sale of the boats rendered engine-less by the breach would have been invested in more personnel and capital to grow its northwest division. But, because of depleted cash flow from lost sales, that opportunity was lost. The court found, as a matter of law, that this loss was not a direct consequence of the breach, and thus, regardless of the bad faith, was not a recoverable contract damage. Simply, loss of cash flow in one part of the business that had a ripple effect in a separate division was too indirect to be a recoverable damage. See Marine Power Holding, LLC v. Malibu Boats, LLC, 2016 WL 7241560 (E.D. La. 12/15/2016).

By contrast, courts have found that loss of cash flow is recoverable where directly related to the damages suffered, such as where breach of a contract to deliver chickens to a chicken farmer caused the forced sale of the chicken farm. See Volentine v. Raeford Farms of La., 50-698 (La.App. 2 Cir. 8/15/16), 201 So.3d 325.

Failure to perform on a contract exposes a business to more than it may realize. Understanding this risk allows for smarter decisions before the breach.