O'BRIAN v. Langley School

This appeal concerns a liquidated damages clause requiring parents to pay tuition for an entire academic year to a school for failure to give timely notice of their decision to withdraw their daughter from the school. Because the circuit court entered summary judgment for the school before permitting the parents to conduct discovery with regard to their defense that the clause is an unenforceable penalty, we will reverse the judgment of the circuit court.

I

William E. O’Brian, Jr., and Fern P. O’Brian (the O’Brians) enrolled their daughter as a student at Langley School (Langley) for the…