While Virginia and the District of Columbia are in close proximity location-wise, and in their laws and enforcement of contract claims, there are differences. Sidley Partner and EDRM Global Advisory Council Chair, Robert Keeling and Mark Guerrera, co-leader of the Commercial Litigation and Disputes group compared the two jurisdictions in a recent article published by the Virginia State Bar’s Virginia Lawyer. [Sidley is an EDRM Trusted Partner.]
Neither jurisdiction favors going beyond the four corners of a nonambiguous contract document to determine terms:
Both jurisdictions employ the parol evidence rule, which allows no extrinsic evidence for contractual interpretation unless an ambiguity is found to exist… — no extrinsic evidence unless ambiguous…
Read the entire article here.
