Reiss v. Financial Performance Corp.

The law of contracts offers relief from a hard bargain only upon a showing of fraud, duress, mistake, misrepresentation, illegality, impossibility of performance or unconscionability. But, when none of those grounds has been established, and the terms of the agreement under consideration are clearly set forth within the four corners of the document, courts should not alter those terms, even where the alteration achieves a more equitable result. As Judge Cardozo noted:

“A contract is made. Performance is burdensome and perhaps oppressive. If we were to consider only the individual instance, we…