Boyd v. Bevilacqua

In Boyd v. Bevilacqua (1966) 247 Cal. App. 2d 272, the parties formed an oral joint venture to acquire and develop real estate. The Court of Appeal affirmed the jury verdict that one of the joint venturers breached his fiduciary duties to the other joint venturers. The court determined that the breach of fiduciary duty supported the award of punitive damages. The parties entered into an oral joint venture agreement for the development of commercial property. (Id. at p. 276.) The plaintiffs alleged that the defendants repudiated the joint venture agreement and converted substantial sums for their personal use. (Id. at p. 284.) After the jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs, the defendants appealed, claiming that the alleged joint venture agreement was an unenforceable agreement to agree, thereby barring the plaintiffs' recovery of monetary damages. (Ibid.) Specifically, the defendants claimed that because the plans for commercial development had not yet been made, the contract was too uncertain to be enforced. (Ibid.) Combining well-established principles of contractual certainty with the principles of joint ventures, which require little formality and permit indefiniteness in their formation, the court affirmed the jury verdict, concluding that no essential term of the parties' agreement had been left undetermined. (Id. at p. 287.)