Perez v. State of Maine
United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
760 F.2d 11 (1985)
Nazario Perez (plaintiff) settled a state-court discrimination suit against Maine's Department of Manpower Affairs for $20,000, covering 'this matter,' while secretly holding a federal right-to-sue letter he never mentioned to his own attorney, and instead privately consulted a different lawyer about whether he could still sue federally afterward. After settling, Perez sued the Department again in federal court on the same facts; at trial, both parties' attorneys testified they believed the settlement covered all state and federal discrimination claims, and the trial court agreed and ruled for the Department. Perez appealed.
Whether, where there is a misunderstanding between parties as to a contract's meaning, the manifestations the parties made to each other regarding that meaning control over a party's private, undisclosed intent.