The would-be tax deed buyer in Wheeler Financial, Inc. v. Law Publishing Co., 2018 IL App (1st) 171495 claimed the publisher defendant’s erroneous sale date in a required tax sale notice thwarted its purchase of a pricey Chicago property.
A jury found for the publisher defendant on the buyer’s breach of oral contract claim since the plaintiff failed to properly vet the draft “Take Notice” (the statutory notice provided by a tax deed applicant that gives notice to the owner) supplied by the defendant before publication. The plaintiff appealed.
Affirming the jury verdict, the First District discusses the nature of express versus implied contracts, the use of non-pattern jury instructions and when course of dealing evidence is admissible to explain the terms of an oral agreement.
Course of dealing – Generally
There was no formal written contract between the parties. But there was a 15-year business relationship where the plaintiff would send draft tax deed petition notices to the defendant who would in turn, publish the notices as required by the Illinois tax code. This decade-and-a-half course of dealing was the basis for jury verdict for the publisher defendant.
Section 223 of the Restatement (Second) of Contracts defines a course of dealing as a sequence of previous conduct between parties to an agreement “which is fairly regarded as establishing a common basis of understanding for interpreting their expressions and other conduct.”
A course of dealing “gives meaning to or supplements or qualifies their agreement” and can be considered when determining the terms of an oral contract. Where contract terms are uncertain or doubtful and the parties have – by their conduct – placed a construction on the agreement that is reasonable, such a construction will be adopted by the court. [¶ ¶ 77-78]
Course of Dealing – The Evidence
Here, the course of dealing proof was found in both trial testimony and documents admitted in evidence.
At trial, current and former employees of the publisher defendant and plaintiff’s agent all testified it was the parties’ common practice for defendant to first provide draft Take Notices to plaintiff for its review and approval prior to publication. E-mails introduced in evidence at trial corroborated this practice.
In addition, plaintiff’s affiliated tax lien company’s own handbook contained a published policy of plaintiff reviewing all Take Notices for accuracy before the notices were published. [¶¶ 35, 83-85]
The appeals court agreed with the jury that the defendant sufficiently proved the parties course of dealing was that defendant would give plaintiff a chance to review the Take Notices before publication. And since the plaintiff failed to adhere to its contractual obligation to review and apprise the defendant of any notice errors, plaintiff could not win on its breach of contract claim. (This is because a breach of contract plaintiff’s prior material breach precludes it from recovering on a breach of contract claim.)
Jury Instructions and A Tacit Exculpatory Clause?
Since no Illinois pattern jury instruction defines “course of dealing,” the trial court instructed the jury based on Wald v. Chicago Shippers Ass’n’s (175 Ill.App.3d 607 (1988) statement that a prior course of dealing can define or qualify an uncertain oral agreement. [¶ 96] Since Wald accurately stated Illinois law on the essence and reach of course of dealing evidence, it was proper for the jury to consider the non-pattern jury instruction.
The court then rejected plaintiff’s argument that allowing the legal publisher to avoid liability was tantamount to creating an implied exculpatory clause. The plaintiff claimed that if the publisher could avoid liability for its erroneous notice date, the parties’ agreement was illusory since it allowed the defendant to breach with impunity.
The court disagreed. It held that the parties’ course of dealing created mutual obligations on the parties: plaintiff was obligated to review defendant’s Take Notices and advise of any errors while defendant was required to republish any corrected notices for free. These reciprocal duties placed enforceable obligations on the parties.
Afterwords:
Where specifics of an oral agreement are lacking, but the parties’ actions over time plainly recognize and validate a business relationship, a court will consider course of dealing evidence to give content to the arrangement.
Where course of dealing evidence establishes that a breach of contract plaintiff has assumed certain obligations, the plaintiff’s failure to perform those requirements will doom its breach of contract claim.