by KYW's Amy Feldman
In 1994 the Board of Regents of UC Berkeley decided that it was time to raise prices. The students, as you can imagine, were not delighted but were assured on the school’s website that increases in the fee apply to new students only, not to continuing students who would pay the same amount throughout their enrollment – a comforting, if not truthful, statement.
When the fee was raised thirty percent, both incoming and continuing students had to pay. Given that the students whose fees were increasing included the law students, guess what happened? Yep, they sued, claiming the websites’ promise not to raise fees on current students constituted a contract.
The California Court found that the website’s promise not to raise fees did constitute an implied contract, which it breached when it raised the price for everyone. If you have a website be very careful what you promise. When it comes to pricing for your product or services, consider adding a disclaimer stating that all pricing is subject to change lest a now-graduated law student finds your site.
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