Legal Question in Business Law in California

Termination of contract with 90 day formal notice requirement

Hello,

I have a question pertaining to the termination of a services contract. The service date is set to expire March 15. The contract states that we need to give 90 days notice to cancel - this would have been December 15th. I inherited this contract from the previous person who held my position and so this clause is new to me, leaving us in a bind.

My question is - how enforcable is this requirement?

Thank you.


Asked on 3/01/06, 9:38 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

Re: Termination of contract with 90 day formal notice requirement

There is a subtle difference between a contract with a right to terminate during the life of the contract, and a contract which renews automatically rather than expiring unless notice is given. Which is this?

First, let me say that rendering an opinion without reading the whole contract would be foolish, and could get both of us in a bunch of trouble.

However, in general, when a contract expires by its terms, and there is no provision for automatic renewal, a 90-day notice requirement is meaningless after the built-in expiration date, because the notice provision would expire along with all the other contract terms.

On the other hand, there are contracts which are more or less perpetual or "evergreen" because they self-renew unless and until proper notice of intent to terminate is given, or some other event triggering termination occurs.

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Answered on 3/01/06, 2:20 pm


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