McAdams v. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• holding that “principle of expressio unius est exclusio alterius has no place” in interpretation of unambiguous contract
• explaining that “[c]ontract interpretation under Massachusetts law depends heavily on context and recognizes that words can have different meanings in different contexts” (citing cases)
• dismissing implied covenant claim: “As UNO Restaurants makes clear, the covenant cannot be used to contradict clear contractual terms.”
• where there is no dispute as to extrinsic facts bearing on the interpretation, the interpretation is a question of law for the court
• under Massachusetts law, “agreements should be construed with reference to the situation of the parties when they made it and to the objects sought to be accomplished” (internal quotation marks omitted)
• \Contracts must . . . be read as a whole.\

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).