Section 12 Grounds and Remedies

• Library: Remedies 2006

Rescission must be supported by grounds or a legal justification for the remedy. Those grounds may include claims that are more commonly associated with damages, such as fraud and sometimes breach of contract. But because rescission is an equitable remedy, the grounds do not need to rise to the level required to support a claim for damages. For example, to justify damages for fraud, strict adherence to the elements is required. But direct proof of fraud is not required for rescission. A claim for rescission may be based on a claim of constructive fraud. See Evergreen Nat’l Corp. v. Carr, 129 S.W.3d 492 (Mo. App. S.D. 2004). Moreover, the equitable remedy of rescission is also justified on numerous equitable grounds, such as undue influence, mistake, failure of consideration, and default in performance.

In exceptional circumstances, parties may be entitled...