Kakaes v. George Washington University
District of Columbia Court of Appeals
790 A.2d 581 (2002)
Dr. Apostolos Kakaes (plaintiff) was an assistant professor at George Washington University (GW) (defendant) whose faculty code required GW to give written notice by June 30 of the prior year if it wouldn't grant him tenure at his term's end, or else he would 'acquire tenure' automatically. With his term set to end May 30, 1994, GW's vice president wrote him on June 28, 1993 saying the tenure decision was still pending before the trustees. By October 1993, still without a final answer, Kakaes sued, arguing GW had missed its notice deadline. At a bench trial, he proved $75,018 in lost salary for the relevant period and testified, without expert support, about what he believed he would have earned with tenure. The trial court agreed GW's notice was untimely and awarded him the proven $75,018, but declined to order GW to actually grant him tenure. Kakaes appealed, arguing the court should have ordered tenure as specific performance and that the damages award was too low.
Whether a court is required to grant specific performance of a contract merely because the contract designates specific performance as the remedy for breach.