Steinberg v. Chicago Medical School

Relevant facts:

Procedural History;

Legal Issue;

Court's holding;

Court's reasoning;

4113 PM Sat N0v13 E 9780357692967 In this situation, the school's promise to evaluate the applications according to academic standards is stated in a \"denitive manner\" in its bulletin. Steinberg accepted this in good faith, and his $15 application fee served as valid consideration. When the school accepted this money, it bound itself to honor the obligations stated in its bulletin. Therefore, its failure to use the stated academic criteria in evaluating applications constituted a breach of its contractual obligation to Steinberg. Interpretation An agreement meeting all of the requirements of a contract is binding and legally enforceable. Ethical Question Is it ethical for a school to consider any factors other than an applicant's merit? Explain. Critical Thinking Question Should the courts resolve this type of dispute on the basis of contract law? Explain. 4:13 PM Sat Nov 13 E 9780357692967 Illinois Court of Appeals, 1976 41 lll.App.3d 804, 354 N.E.2d 586 Facts Robert Steinberg applied for admission to the Chicago Medical School as a rst-year student and paid an application fee of fteen dollars. The school, a private educational institution, rejected his application. Steinberg brought an action against the school, claiming that it did not evaluate his and other applications according to the academic entrance criteria printed in the school's bulletin. Instead, he argues, the school based its decisions primarily on nonacademic considerations, such as family connections between the applicant and the school's faculty and members of its board of trustees and the ability of the applicant or his family to donate large sums of money to the school. Steinberg asserts that by evaluating his application according to these unpublished criteria, the school breached the contract it had created when it accepted his application fee. The trial court granted the defendant's motion to dismiss, and Steinberg appealed. 1 67 Decision Trial court's dismissal reversed and case remanded. Opinion A contract is a promise or set of promises for the breach of which the law gives a remedy. \"A contract's essential requirements are: competent parties, valid subject matter, legal consideration, mutuality of obligation and mutuality of agreement.\" Generally, parties may contract in any situation where there is no legal prohibition. To be binding, however, the terms must be \"reasonably certain and denite.\" The contract must also be supported by consideration. Dened in its most general terms, consideration is some benet accruing to one party or some detriment undertaken by the other, such as the payment of or promise to pay money. In addition, the parties must mutually agree to the contract's essential terms and conditions to make the contract binding. Mutual consent is gathered from the language employed by the parties or manifested by their words or acts