Law for Business 12th Edition by James Barnes,Terry Dworkin,Eric Richards

Exercise 4

Willis was employed to find buyers for Haveg Industries' wire products. His agency contract permitted either party to terminate the agreement on 30 days' written notice. In the event of such a termination, the agreement entitled Willis to commissions only on orders accepted by Haveg up to and including the termination date. During his employment, Willis convinced Boeing Company to choose Haveg's product as its generalpurpose wire. However, before Boeing made any orders, Haveg terminated Willis's contract. Boeing's first major order did not occur until more than a year and a half after his termination and the company continued to make major purchases during the next five years. Willis argued that Haveg terminated him in bad faith in order to avoid paying his commissions on the Boeing orders. He sued Haveg to recover his commissions on all purchases made by Boeing during the five years following his termination. Is Willis entitled to the commissions because his efforts were the procuring cause of the orders?