In Gould v. Board of Education, 81 N.Y.2d 446 (1993) a teacher's resignation was found to be a nullity because she was unaware that she had tenure rights. There, the Court of Appeals held that a "tenured teacher has a protected property interest in her position . . . A teacher may, of course, relinquish her tenured rights in her position voluntarily by resigning" but a "resignation which has been obtained by fraud of which is the result of coercion or duress, however, does not represent a voluntary act and may be nullified." 81 N.Y.2d at 451. The basis for the decision was the "rule that a person may not knowingly relinquish rights that she does not knowingly possess." Furthermore, the Court found that as both parties were under a mutual mistake of fact about a substantial issue when they entered in the agreement, the petitioner's relinquishment of rights was therefore void and subject to rescission. Gould, 81 N.Y.2d at 453.