I can't believe this issue was not settled out of court...it wouldn't have been an issue if Qdoba wasn't so popular.
In Massachusetts a shopping mall (White City Shopping Center) had a lease agreement with Panera Bread, and this agreement included a provision that restricted the mall from renting to a competing sandwich shop. The mall then wanted to lease space to Qdoba, and of course the agreement didn't define what a sandwich is.
Because the contract failed to define 'sandwich' the issue falls to the hands of the judicial system. Of course during litigation lots of expert witnesses were called to define a sandwich, but the final call came from a judge (does a judge really know what is and is not a sandwich?). Judge Locke's decision came down to the fact that a sandwich is usually two pieces of bread versus one tortilla.
My question and my evidence professor's is then...what is a wrap? I also know that I've refered to Qdoba as the Mexican food version of subway.
Honestly, I'm not going to rip on this being a waste of judicial time (it really kind of is) or that its frivolous litigation (its really not...it means a lot of money to both organizations), I am going to say lawyers and even those entering into contracts really should look at the terms of those contracts and should make sure that even the most basic terms are defined (at least the terms that come down to your core business...um like what your basic product is!). Drafting, Drafting, Drafting!
2 comments:
Sounds like a great topic for a Seinfeld episode to me.
Trevan, that is too funny! You are absolutely right.
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