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Contracts Keyed to Knapp
Sparrow v. Demonico
Citation:
Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts 461 Mass. 322, 960 N.E.2d 296 (2012)Facts
Sparrow and Susan Demonico were sisters. Following their mother’s death, the Susan and her husband lived in the family home. Sparrow claimed that she was entitled to one-half interest in the home and brought suit against her sister and brother-in-law. Sparrow and the Demonicos agree to mediate their dispute and the parties ultimately reached a settlement agreement whereby the Demonicos would sell the home as soon as possible and pay Sparrow $100,000 of the proceeds. However, the Demonicos failed to act on their contractual obligations and Sparrow attempted to judicially enforce the agreement. During trial, the Demonicos provided lay testimony that Susan was emotionally distressed at the time of the mediation and lacked the capacity to contract. They claimed that Susan’s speech was slurred, she was uncontrollably crying, and was unable to think rationally.
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