Also known as: clearly disproportional · disproportionate
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A standard applied by courts to limit remedies or enforcement when the cost or burden of performance greatly exceeds the value or benefit obtained. The inquiry compares the magnitude of the required act against the resulting advantage or harm avoided. Courts invoke the standard to avoid imposing obligations that produce inequitable or impractical results.
Colin Chambers hired Cedar Creek Farms to level his pasture for a new barn. The contract price was $12,000 but the farm left the land uneven. Colin now seeks specific performance requiring the farm to complete the leveling at a third-party cost of $60,000. The court compares that cost against the modest increase in market value the completed work would produce.
Charlotte Chung sought a permit to expand her retail store. The city conditioned approval on dedicating a strip of land for a greenway and a bike path. The required dedication covered far more acreage than needed to handle the added traffic from the modest expansion. The court examines whether the city demonstrated rough proportionality between the exaction and the project's actual effects.
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Christian Coleman faced an intruder who shoved him once. Coleman responded by striking the intruder repeatedly with a metal pipe. The blows created a substantial risk of fatal injury even though the initial threat was minor. The court assesses whether the chosen means threatened harm differing in kind from the danger actually presented.
Claire Campbell voluntarily repaired a software glitch for Cobalt Energy over one weekend. The company later promised her $250,000 plus lifetime consulting fees. The promised sum far exceeded the ordinary market rate for a single repair. The court limits enforcement to the reasonable value of the benefit actually conferred.
Catherine Carter challenged a state's capital-sentencing system on the ground that it produced markedly higher death sentences for defendants of one race. The raw numbers showed disparity but supplied no evidence that any decision-maker acted with discriminatory intent in her case. The court requires proof of purposeful discrimination before finding a constitutional violation.
Chloe Chen alleged that a village's refusal to rezone land for multifamily housing disproportionately affected minority residents. The village cited legitimate concerns about traffic and school capacity. The court finds no evidence that the decision was motivated by racial animus rather than neutral planning considerations.
A court compares the expense of completing performance against the probable increase in market value or other benefit the injured party would receive. If the cost greatly exceeds that value, the court may limit recovery to the diminution in value instead of ordering full performance.
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No. The obligation remains enforceable unless the payment amount has become excessive relative to the cost of providing the service or the value the burdened land actually receives. Courts weigh changed circumstances against any reliance investments made by the service provider.
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The government must show that any required dedication of land is roughly proportional in nature and extent to the impact of the proposed development. A condition that demands far more land than the project's effects justify violates the requirement.
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Enforcement is capped at the extent necessary to prevent injustice and is further limited to the extent the promised value is disproportionate to the benefit actually conferred. A court will not award the full promised amount when it greatly exceeds the reasonable value of the benefit received.
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…one private owner and gives it to another private owner for economic development. The beneficiaries are likely to be those with disproportionate influence and power in the political process. Justice Thomas, dissenting, argued that the “public use” requirement should be given its original meaning of use by the public. The Court’s…