74.120 Undue Influence; Duress; Economic Duress

74.120 Undue Influence; Duress; Economic Duress Economic duress is a form of the duress recognized (in the law). Business compulsion or economic duress involves the taking of undue or unjust advantage of a person's economic necessity or distress to coerce him into making a contract and is also recognized as a contractual defense. However, a duress claim of this nature must be based upon acts or conducts of the opposite party that are wrongful or unlawful. When the signer is sophisticated in business matters and has access to and in fact obtains advice of counsel, the defense of duress is not available to void the contract. One may not void a contract on grounds of duress merely because he entered into it with reluctance, the contract is very disadvantageous to him, the bargaining power of the parties was unequal, or there was some unfairness in the negotiations preceding the agreement. (Add the following if waiver is properly raised as a defense.) (Moreover, even if acts could otherwise have been construed as sufficient duress to void a note, reliance upon the defense of duress may be waived.) Frame v. Booth, Wade & Campbell, 238 Ga. App. 428 (1999) (Note: Duress, waiver, fraud, and illegality are affirmative defenses.) O.C.G.A. §9-11-8(c); affirmative defenses O.C.G.A. §9-11-15(b); amendments to conform to the evidence (Note: The holdings on duress were based in part upon repealed Ga. Code Ann. §96-209 defining duress as "any illegal imprisonment, or legal imprisonment used for an illegal purpose or threats of bodily or other harm, or other means amounting to coercion or tending to coerce the will of another, and actually inducing the person to do an act contrary to his/her own free will." King v. Lewis, 188 Ga. 597 (1939). There is apparently no further statute on the subject except O.C.G.A. §13-5-6. The only provision on this subject in the Uniform Commercial Code, which repealed former Ga. Code Ann. §96-209, is O.C.G.A. §11-10-103, which merely says that the Uniform Commercial Code (Title 109A) supplements the general law on duress and various other matters except insofar as it provides otherwise. Examination of the cited cases indicated that the repealed Ga. Code Ann. §96-209 was based on general common law principles that remain valid despite its repeal and that the older cases and charges remain valid law.)