Wash. Court of Appeals published opinion — 387844_pub.pdf

Citation: Wash. Court of Appeals published opinion — 387844_pub.pdf
Jurisdiction: Washington (state)
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Original Source: https://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf/387844_pub.pdf ↗

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from the agreement and uphold the remaining terms or invalidate the entire contract.

Gandee v. LDL Freedom Enterprises, Inc., 176 Wn.2d 598, 607, 293 P.3d 1197 (2013).

Severance is the usual remedy for invalid terms rather than invalidation of the entire

agreement. Woodward v. Emeritus Corp., 192 Wn. App. 584, 602, 368 P.3d 487 (2016).

Courts are reticent to void the entire agreement especially when the agreement contains a

severance clause. Gandee v. LDL Freedom Enterprises, Inc., 176 Wn.2d 598, 607

(2013). Nevertheless, when unconscionable terms pervade an agreement, courts refuse to

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For the current opinion, go to https://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports/.

No. 38784-4-III
Elgiadi v. Washington State University

rewrite the agreement and instead invalidate the contract. Gandee v. LDL Freedom

Enterprises, Inc., 176 Wn.2d 598, 607 (2013). In discerning whether to invalidate an

entire arbitration agreement, the Supreme Court compared the number of clauses invalid

with the number of remaining clauses and held the entire agreement void because of three

unconscionable provisions in a contract containing four provisions. Gandee v. LDL

Freedom Enterprises, Inc., 176 Wn.2d 598 (2013).

Paragraph 3 contains strong language to the end that WSU would not have settled

the earlier lawsuit without the no-reapply clause. Saleh Elgiadi does little to defeat the

strong language. Elgiadi also ignores the absence of a severance clause in the agreement.

Still, paragraph 3 only addresses what occurs if Elgiadi applies for reemployment. The

paragraph indicates that Elgiadi’s reapplication for employment breaches the agreement.

The paragraph expresses no intent that the entire agreement becomes void if the court

annuls the no-reapply clause.