Also known as: special circumstance exception · special circumstances
Written by attorneys — see sources below.
A qualifier that permits deviation from a general legal rule when unusual facts are present that undermine the rule's normal application or justify a different outcome.
Officer Ramirez stops Sofia Stern for a broken taillight. His certified narcotics dog alerts on the trunk. No evidence shows the dog was poorly trained or handled improperly. The alert supplies probable cause to search the trunk.
Stonehaven Properties accepts defective windows from Skyline Construction. The windows cause unusual water damage that exceeds the ordinary difference in value. The court awards damages reflecting the actual proximate loss shown by the special circumstances.
Spencer Silver contracts to supply custom parts to Serena Soto for a time-sensitive government bid. Silver breaches. Soto loses the bid because Silver knew of the special deadline and the bid's importance. The loss is recoverable as foreseeable under the special circumstances.
Sierra Solutions obtains a judgment against Synergy Systems for ongoing trespass. At the time of judgment the trespass has ceased. Special circumstances show the trespass is likely to resume immediately. The court issues the injunction despite the change in facts.
Union members picket at a shopping center owned by Samuel Soto. The center invites the public to shop. Special circumstances show the picketers have no reasonable alternative channel to reach employees. The owner may not exclude them under the governing standard.
Scott Hudgens owns the North DeKalb Shopping Center in suburban Atlanta, Georgia. The center consists of a single large building with an enclosed mall. Surrounding the building is a parking area that can accommodate 2,640 automobiles. The shopping center houses 60 retail stores leased to businesses such as the Butler Shoe Company store that can be entered only from the interior mall. In January 1971, warehouse employees of the Butler Shoe Company went on strike to protest the company's failure to agree to demands made by their union in contract negotiations. The strikers decided to picket not only Butler's warehouse but its nine retail stores in the Atlanta area as well, including the store in the North DeKalb Shopping Center. On January 22, 1971, four of the striking warehouse employees entered the center's enclosed mall carrying placards which read "Butler Shoe Warehouse on Strike, AFL-CIO, Local 315." The general manager informed the employees that they could not picket within the mall or on the parking lot and threatened them with arrest if they did not leave. The employees departed but returned a short time later and began picketing in an area of the mall immediately adjacent to the entrances of the Butler store. After the picketing had continued for approximately 30 minutes, the shopping center manager again informed the pickets that if they did not leave they would be arrested for trespassing, and the pickets departed. The union subsequently filed with the National Labor Relations Board an unfair labor practice charge against Hudgens. After the Board initially entered a cease-and-desist order relying on Food Employees v. Logan Valley Plaza, this Court decided Lloyd Corp. v. Tanner and Central Hardware Co. v. NLRB, leading the Court of Appeals to remand the case to the Board for reconsideration. Upon remand, an Administrative Law Judge made findings that Hudgens had committed an unfair labor practice. The Board agreed with those findings and recommendations though on somewhat different reasoning. The Court of Appeals enforced the Board's cease-and-desist order, and this Court granted certiorari to consider the questions presented.
View caseThe alert fails when special circumstances undermine the dog's reliability. Training and certification evidence normally suffices. Formal field statistics are not required unless those circumstances appear.
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They permit recovery of proximate damages different from the standard value difference. The buyer must prove the special facts and the resulting loss amount.
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The loss must result from facts beyond the ordinary course of events that the breaching party had reason to know at contracting. Disclosure during negotiations satisfies the requirement.
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Special circumstances must require a different determination. The court compares probable consequences of granting or denying the injunction at the time of decision.
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…rule against employees on his premises who are also union organizers, unless he can prove that the rule is necessitated by special circumstances. The Court of Appeals enforced the Board's cease-and-desist order but on the basis of yet another theory. While acknowledging that the source of the pickets' rights was § 7 of the Act, the…