Legal Question in Business Law in California

Rounded numbers and contracts

I am a physician in a large

multispecialty group. The group is a

partnership governed by a

partnership agreement. One

provision of the partnership

agreement is for a bonus to be paid

to any partner who achieves an

average score of 9.0 (out of 10) on a

survey sent to previous patients. My

score was 8.97 and I was not

awarded this bonus. Since the

partnership agreement specifies only

one decimal place and my score

rounded to one decimal place is

adequate should I receive this bonus

and what recourse do I have with the

group?


Asked on 12/08/07, 11:00 pm

3 Answers from Attorneys
Robert F. Cohen Law Office of Robert F. Cohen

Re: Rounded numbers and contracts

If I were the partners, I'd say "no" since the score was below 9.0. You've got to do more lobbying or shmoozing with your former patients.

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Answered on 12/08/07, 11:23 pm
Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

Re: Rounded numbers and contracts

8.97 is still mathematically less than 9, or 9.0, or 9.00, and that's probably all that the guys who manage the practice will look at; yours is a nice theory but as the saying goes, close only counts in horseshoes. I'm afraid a judge or jury would see it the same way.

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Answered on 12/08/07, 11:32 pm
Carl Starrett Law Offices of Carl H. Starrett II

Re: Rounded numbers and contracts

If you scored 89.7 on a test in medical school, you still would not have earned an A. The professor might be generous and still give you the A, but you wouldn't be entitled to it.

The same principle applies to your partnership agreement. It was probably written to use an objective standard to avoid debates over subjective standards.

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Answered on 12/08/07, 11:53 pm


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