Also known as: walkouts · strike
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A partner's abrupt withdrawal from a partnership that breaches an express agreement term or occurs prematurely in a definite-term or specific-undertaking partnership, rendering the dissociation wrongful and exposing the partner to liability for resulting damages.
Wayne Walker and Warren Woods formed a partnership to finish a construction project under a written agreement barring early exit. Walker executed a walkout midway through the job. When his attorney filed an unsigned complaint seeking damages from Woods, the court struck the paper under the signature requirement.
Wesley Wells walked out of a partnership formed for a fixed term, prompting a damages suit by his former partner. During jury selection the defendant used peremptory challenges to remove all male venire members solely because of their sex. The court disallowed the strikes as violating equal protection.
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Winter Wolfe walked out of a partnership in breach of the agreement. At trial the plaintiff offered testimony about the walkout. The defendant failed to make a timely objection on the record stating the specific ground. The court admitted the evidence and the omission barred later review.
Wren Wallace executed a walkout from a partnership and later confronted his former partner. When the partner advanced with a weapon creating substantial risk of fatal injury, Wallace used force to defend himself. The court held the force privileged because the threatened harm qualified as serious bodily harm.
Whitney White walked out of a definite-term partnership. Her former partner filed a vague complaint alleging damages but providing no details of the breach. The court granted a motion for more definite statement because the pleading was too ambiguous to permit a response.
Winterhaven Logistics partners filed suit after one executed a walkout. The complaint contained redundant and scandalous allegations unrelated to the breach. The court struck the immaterial matter from the pleading on its own motion.
A walkout is wrongful when it breaches an express term of the partnership agreement or occurs before completion of a definite-term or specific-undertaking partnership. The withdrawing partner remains liable for damages caused by the dissociation.
The remaining partner may recover consequential damages caused by the walkout, such as premium costs to hire replacement crews needed to finish the project on time.
The agreement does not eliminate the power to withdraw but makes the dissociation wrongful, exposing the partner to liability for resulting damages rather than barring the exit itself.
…Skrupa , 372 U.S. 726, purported to sound the death knell for the doctrine of substantive due process, which had been applied to strike down state legislation concerning economic matters. In the 1960's and 1970's, however, the Court has given renewed life to the due process clause by using it to strike down state…