Also known as: unusual circumstance · exceptional circumstances
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A set of rare facts that justify departing from a generally applicable legal rule or requirement. The phrase supplies the trigger for discretionary exceptions when ordinary application would produce injustice or impractical results.
Uliana Ustinova, an associate at Union Steel's outside counsel, filed a pleading containing factual denials unsupported by any evidence. After notice and a hearing, the court found a Rule 11(b) violation. Because no facts showed that the firm itself bore responsibility beyond ordinary supervision, the court declined to impose joint liability on the firm.
Uri Underwood sued Universal Motors in State A for a product defect. Universal Motors is incorporated and headquartered in State B but sells thousands of vehicles annually in State A through dealerships. The court dismissed for lack of general jurisdiction because the sales, while substantial, did not constitute the rare facts needed to treat State A as the corporation's home.
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Umeko Uchida, a key government witness in a federal fraud prosecution, suffered a stroke and now resides in hospice care across the country. Physicians advised that travel would endanger her life and that her condition would not improve before trial. The court granted the government's motion to preserve her testimony by deposition and to require production of her treatment records at the deposition.
Ulric Unger operated one of several laundry companies in a multiemployer bargaining unit. After negotiations began, Unger faced imminent plant closure and bankruptcy. The Board permitted Unger's withdrawal from the unit because those facts qualified as the narrow economic distress needed to excuse the usual requirement of mutual consent.
The Board requires extreme economic distress such as imminent business closure, bankruptcy, or plant shutdown. An ordinary bargaining impasse does not qualify.
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No. A corporation is at home only in its state of incorporation or principal place of business unless rare additional facts render the forum essentially equivalent to those locations.
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The court may order the deposition when exceptional circumstances make live testimony at trial impracticable or seriously doubtful and when doing so serves the interests of justice. The rule also permits requiring production of designated nonprivileged materials at the deposition.
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Yes, but only absent exceptional circumstances showing that the firm itself bears no responsibility. The default rule imposes joint liability on the firm for violations by its attorneys.
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…10 days is presumptively too short to fall within the Clause. The word "presumptively" leaves open the possibility that a very unusual circumstance could demand the exercise of the recess-appointment power during a shorter break. Pp. 2560-2567. (c) The phrase "vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate," Art. II, § 2,…