Not Letting Felons Vote Damages Democracy for All Citizens

AUSTIN SARAT

Austin Sarat— Associate Provost, Associate Dean of the Faculty, and William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science at Amherst College—argues that disenfranchising felons, as most American states do in some way, does substantial harm to everyone in our democracy. Sarat praises a recent decision by a federal district court in Florida striking down a state law requiring people with serious criminal convictions to pay court fines and fees before they can register to vote, but he cautions that but much more needs to be done to ensure that those who commit serious crimes can exercise one of the essential rights of citizenship.

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Eloquence Corp. v. Home Consignment Center

Court: California Courts of Appeal

Docket: A156925(First Appellate District)

Opinion Date: May 28, 2020

Judge: Fujisaki

Areas of Law: Business Law, Commercial Law, Contracts

Under a 2008 consignment agreement, Eloquence would consign jewelry and loose diamonds to HCC for resale. HCC was to send a monthly sales report of each item sold. Upon receipt of that report, Eloquence would prepare an invoice setting forth the payment due from HCC. The Agreement required HCC to pay the invoices within 30 days and provided for a bi-annual reconciliation of the inventory of consigned goods. Following a reconciliation, two invoices dated November 10, 2009, identified “items reported as missing” from an HCC store: 16 pieces of jewelry ($64085). Eloquence gave HCC a five-month extension for payment. Delivery of consigned goods to HCC continued for seven years, totaling $616,633.30 in sales invoices. In 2017, Eloquence sued HCC and its general partners, asserting “breach of written agreement” and “open book account” by failing to pay the November 2009 invoices, in the total amount of $64,085 and that it “furnished to HCC, at its request, on an open book account, merchandise of the agreed value of $64,085. The court of appeal affirmed summary judgment. Eloquence’s breach of contract cause of action time-barred because the agreement contemplated a series of discrete transactions each evidenced by a separate invoice. The doctrine of continuous accrual applies; the statute of limitations expired in May 2014. There was no agreement by the parties to enter into an open book accountt.

Finance Authority of Maine v. Grimnes

Court: Maine Supreme Judicial Court

Citation: 2020 ME 76

Opinion Date: May 28, 2020

Judge: Horton

Areas of Law: Commercial Law

The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the judgment of the superior court against Appellant, guarantor of a promissory note held by Finance Authority of Maine (FAME), holding that the superior court correctly determined that neither of two of the default provisions contained in Article 9 of Maine’s Uniform Commercial Code - 11 M.R.S. 9-1607 and 9-1626 - required FAME to prove the reasonableness of its decision not to pursue the collateral before it could obtain a judgment against Appellant. FAME extended a loan to Harbor Technologies, LLC. Harbor executed a promissory note and security agreement under which its assets were pledged as collateral to secure the note. Appellant executed a personal guaranty of Harbor's obligations to FAME. After Harbor defaulted on the loan, FAME sued Appellant on his guaranty for the entire amount due. The circuit court entered judgment in favor of FAME. The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed, holding that, in light of the independent and unconditional nature of Appellant's guaranty, the court was correct when it determined that neither section 9-1607 nor section 9-1626 imposed a burden on FAME to prove the commercial reasonableness of its decision not to pursue the collateral before it could obtain a judgment against Appellant.