370
Opinion of the Court
ties' written agreement." Id., at 321, 862 P. 2d, at 167. "A contrary conclusion," the court stated, "would undermine the law of contracts by vesting in one contracting party the power to unilaterally convert the other contracting party's conditional obligation into an independent, unconditional obligation notwithstanding the terms of the agreement." Id., at 314, 862 P. 2d, at 162.
It is no doubt true that diverse California decisions bear out the maxim that "law abhors a forfeiture" 3 and that the
3 UNUM cites a handful of California cases of this genre. They do not cast doubt on our disposition. In Conservatorship of Rand, 49 Cal. App. 4th 835, 57 Cal. Rptr. 2d 119 (4th Dist. 1996), the court found that a county court rule governing notice to a conservatee of potential liability for fees and costs did not comply with statutory notice requirements, but excused the defective notice because the conservatee had suffered no prejudice. See id., at 838-841, 57 Cal. Rptr. 2d, at 121-123. Rand was not a contract case at all; it concerned the consequences of a court's violation of a state-created notice provision in the context of a judicial proceeding. Industrial Asphalt Inc. v. Garrett Corp., 180 Cal. App. 3d 1001, 226 Cal. Rptr. 17 (2d Dist. 1986), concerned the notice requirements imposed by California's mechanics lien law and turned on principles of statutory rather than contract interpretation. See id., at 1005-1006, 226 Cal. Rptr., at 18-19. In Industrial Asphalt, moreover, the complaining party had received actual notice of the claim underlying the lien. Ibid. Neither case suggests that California courts are generally unwilling or reluctant to enforce time conditions in private contracts as written.
The older decisions on which UNUM relies are no more instructive. The contract at issue in Ballard v. MacCallum, 15 Cal. 2d 439, 101 P. 2d 692 (1940) (en banc), contained contradictory clauses, some appearing to provide for forfeiture in the event of default, others appearing to contemplate an opportunity to cure. See id., at 442, 101 P. 2d, at 694. The court invoked a general presumption against forfeitures only to resolve the conflict. See id., at 444, 101 P. 2d, at 695. Finally, in Henck v. Lake Hemet Water Co., 9 Cal. 2d 136, 69 P. 2d 849 (1937) (en banc), a water supplier attempted to escape the terms of a long-term delivery contract on the ground that the water recipient had not timely made annual payment. The California Supreme Court rejected the supplier's plea, observing that "in a proper case," equity permits a court to excuse a lapse like the recipient's in order to avoid forfeiture. See id., at 141, 142, 69 P. 2d, at 852. The Henck court carefully weighed the competing interests of the parties
Page: Index Previous 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007