Undue Influence
Undue influence is an equitable doctrine that involves one person taking advantage of a position of power over another. The law presumes that in certain classes of relationship there will be a special risk of one party unduly influencing their conduct and motives for contracting (Undue Influence 2007). Because the court can vitiate such a contract if there is a special relationship, when no special relationship exists, the general rule is whether there was a relationship of such trust and confidence that it should give rise to such a presumption (Johnson v. Buttress (1936) 56 CLR 113).
An example of such a case is Odorizzi v. Bloomfield School District CA Ct of App 54 Ca Rpt 533 . The plaintiff was under contract as a teacher. He was arrested, and the next day he allegedly was pressured by his superiors to sign and deliver his resignation. He was cleared of the criminal charges, and then he sought to be reinstated by the school district. They refused, so he sued to rescind his resignation. He claimed that his resignation should not be enforced because, among other things, he signed it under the “undue influence” of his superiors.
When a party has placed their confidence and trust in another and this relationship is broken, the view of moral relativism will generally see this situation as being wrong. Undue influence is usually an act of dishonesty and/or deceit in a situation where one party realizes their power over the other and takes advantage of this. Deception and deceit are not viewed as being ethical values inherent in a person.
Read more about this topic: Ethical Implications In Contracts
Famous quotes containing the words undue and/or influence:
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—Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (1844–1911)
“We should be blessed if we lived in the present always, and took advantage of every accident that befell us, like the grass which confesses the influence of the slightest dew that falls on it; and did not spend our time in atoning for the neglect of past opportunities, which we call doing our duty.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)