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Duress
Duress refers to coercion that causes a person to perform an act against his or her will. Duress is an important concept in both civil and criminal law that recognizes that a person who is acting without free will should not be held responsible for the conduct. In contract law, legal duress can invalidate a contract signed by a party. The rationale is that the formation of the contract was not undertaken freely and voluntarily. In other words, there was not a true meeting of the minds.
Duress, however, is not always easy to define and can vary by state. Because the law has an interest in upholding contracts to provide stability and predictability, it is generally difficult to invalidate them. Thus, tough negotiations or hard bargaining are insufficient under the law to constitute duress.
Duress exists when a person has been wrongfully forced or coerced into entering the contract. Physical coercion and threats of harm are common examples of conduct that constitute duress. Another form of conduct that might constitute legal duress includes wrongfully withholding a party’s property, or threatening to wrongfully withhold the property until a contract is signed. In rare circumstances, a court may find duress when one party takes unfair advantage of another’s party’s economic necessity. However, such claims usually do not prevail.
Duress can also be a defense in criminal law. In essence, the concept is that a defendant charged with a crime can be excused for his or her actions if they were committed under duress or coercion, as defined by law. The specifics of the defense and whether it can be invoked vary by state. The defendant normally must show that the defendant’s actions were reasonable under the circumstances and based upon the fear of immediate serious harm. For example, a bad actor may point a gun at someone and threaten to shoot unless the other party steals a car. The defendant then steals the car to avoid being shot. Duress would likely be available as a defense.
However, the defense may not apply to all crimes. For example, a statute may specifically except murder, or may except crimes more severe than that being threatened against the party claiming duress. Generally, the defense is not available if the defendant had an alternative to committing the crime.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the difference between duress and undue influence?
Duress involves a wrongful threat or coercion that overcomes someone’s free will, like a threat of harm or improperly withholding their property. Undue influence is subtler and turns on a relationship of trust or dependence being used to override someone’s judgment. Both can be grounds to void a contract, but they rest on different facts and different proof.
Can you get out of a contract you signed under pressure?
Possibly, but the bar is high. Courts protect the stability of contracts, so ordinary pressure like a tight deadline, a tough negotiator, or a take-it-or-leave-it offer won’t do it. You’d need to show wrongful coercion that left you no reasonable alternative. Act quickly once the pressure ends, since continuing to perform can look like you accepted the deal.
Is a hard bargain the same as economic duress?
No. Hard bargaining is lawful, even when one side clearly has more power. Economic duress requires something wrongful, like threatening to breach an existing contract unless you agree to new terms, when you’ve got no practical alternative source. These claims rarely succeed, because courts don’t want ordinary commercial pressure treated as coercion.
