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How do I appeal a signed contract on the basis of medical reasons?
Anonymous2 views3 answers
My son (age 20) electronically signed a contract to participate in a 2 week travel abroad program with the university he is attending. The contract states that he is responsible for the entire program if he withdraws inside of 30 days. It also states that he can appeal this in the case of "substantiated, unforeseen, or unanticipated medical reasons". His grandmother is not doing well, and he does not want to be half way around the world should her situation become imminent. They have denied his appeal, and are charging him the full amount of the program ($6,630) which includes 6 credit hours ($2,017) that he will not receive on his transcript. What recourse does he have?
First, review the dispute resolution procedures in the contract (it may provide the court and venue or other terms). Follow those. Absent alternative dispute resolution terms, he would have to file suit and get a declaratory judgment. Now, the chances of getting this are tiny based on your facts.
Since this is a 6K matter, spend a small fraction of that on legal advice. This is not something he can do himself and, quite frankly, absent some unusual terns and facts, he faces very long odds.
Sorry. This is a tough situation. Generally speaking and electronic signature is valid so long as it reflects intent to be bound. The rest will depend upon the wording in the contract itself. I think you need to get some help by contacting an attorney. Sometimes an attorney's involvement my sway the university.
Good luck to you.
Doug
You could, in theory, file a declaratory judgment action and ask a court to interpret his rights and responsibilities under the contract. If you can convince the Court that the terms of the agreement unambiguously allow cancellation due to the medical condition of a relative or that the university acted in bad faith in denying the appeal, then your son might be relieved of the obligation. However, I do not think he has a very strong legal argument based on what you have posted.
I would guess that his appeal failed because "substantiated, unforeseen, or unanticipated medical reasons" likely relates to the student's health, not the health of third parties. I think you are going to have a very difficult time convincing a court otherwise.
