Discussions in Contracts: Duress and Undue Influence Podcast

There are three sets of defenses that might be used to avoid enforcement of a contract which is otherwise valid. The topic of this podcast is the basic concepts related to two of the assent related defenses, duress and undue influence. The defense of duress exists to protect against contracts that are obtained by some type of threat or coercion. The defense of undue influence exists for a more specialized role, to protect against assent obtained by unfair persuasion. At the conclusion of this podcast you should be able to (1) distinguish between duress (an improper threat) and undue influence (unfair persuasion); (2) identify which types of threats are improper and distinguish between cases of duress involving physical compulsion making a contract void and other cases where the threat makes a contract voidable; (3) identify relationships that might lead to a claim of undue influence; and (4) describe how and when these defenses can be used to enable a party to rescind a contract otherwise validly entered into (or where the contract might be void as a result of duress resulting from physical compulsion).