Also known as: adjourns · adjourned · adjourning · adjournment · adjournments · adjournatur
Written by attorneys — see sources below.
To postpone or recess a convened meeting, hearing, or session to a later time or date.
Congress passes a revenue bill and sends it to the President. Ten days later Congress adjourns without the President having signed or returned the bill. The bill does not become law because the adjournment prevents its return.
One spouse denies that the marriage is irretrievably broken at the initial hearing. The court adjourns the matter for a conciliation conference and schedules the continued hearing between thirty and sixty days later. At the adjourned hearing the court determines whether the marriage is irretrievably broken.
The House and Senate disagree on when to end the session. The President adjourns both houses to a date the President selects. The adjournment resolves the disagreement between the chambers.
Directors meet to consider a merger offer. After discussion they adjourn rather than recess the meeting without incorporating key conditions into the agreement. The adjournment leaves the offer acceptance incomplete.
Trans Union Corporation was a publicly traded diversified holding company whose principal earnings came from its railcar leasing business. During the late 1970s the company generated hundreds of millions of dollars in annual cash flow but faced difficulty utilizing accumulating investment tax credits because accelerated depreciation had reduced available taxable income. In the summer of 1980 Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jerome W. Van Gorkom concluded that Congress would not make the credits refundable and began exploring a sale of the company. On September 13, 1980, Van Gorkom met privately with corporate takeover specialist Jay A. Pritzker at the latter's home. Without prior consultation with the Board or senior management except the controller, Van Gorkom proposed a cash-out merger at $55 per share, a figure he had selected solely because it appeared feasible for a leveraged buyout financed by Trans Union's projected cash flow and asset sales. Pritzker expressed interest and insisted that the Board act within three days. Van Gorkom called a special Board meeting for noon on September 20 with only two hours' prior notice to most directors. The ten-member Board, consisting of five inside and five outside directors, received a twenty-minute oral presentation from Van Gorkom but no copies of the proposed merger agreement and no independent valuation study. After roughly two hours of discussion the Board approved the merger agreement with Pritzker's New T Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Marmon Group, Inc. Following public announcement of the agreement, senior management expressed strong opposition. On October 8 and 10 the Board approved amendments that permitted Trans Union to solicit competing offers during a market-test period ending February 10, 1981, although the amendments imposed strict conditions on any withdrawal from the Pritzker deal. Salomon Brothers was retained to seek alternative bids; only General Electric Credit Corporation showed sustained interest, but it declined to proceed without an extension of the February 10 deadline that Pritzker refused to grant. On February 10, 1981, Trans Union stockholders approved the merger by a vote of 69.9 percent in favor. Plaintiffs, a class of shareholders, had filed suit in December 1980 seeking rescission or damages. After trial the Court of Chancery entered judgment for the defendant directors on July 6, 1982, and the plaintiffs appealed to the Delaware Supreme Court.
View caseA state constitutional convention reaches consensus on limited topics. Delegates adjourn the convention for two years to reconvene at the statutory time. The adjournment allows the next legislature to expand the convention's powers.
In 1901 the Tennessee General Assembly enacted a statute apportioning the Senate with thirty-three members and the House of Representatives with ninety-nine members among the state's ninety-five counties. The Tennessee Constitution required a decennial enumeration of qualified voters and reapportionment of both houses on that basis. The General Assembly performed reapportionments after the enumerations of 1871, 1881, and 1891. After 1901 every proposal for reapportionment failed to pass. Between 1901 and 1960 the state's population grew from 2,020,616 to 3,567,089. The number of persons eligible to vote rose from 487,380 to 2,092,891. Substantial redistribution occurred from rural to urban counties. Appellants were residents and qualified voters of the urban counties of Davidson, Hamilton, Knox, Montgomery, and Shelby. They brought a civil action in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee against the Secretary of State, Attorney General, Coordinator of Elections, and members of the State Board of Elections. The complaint was filed under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1988. It alleged that continued application of the 1901 statute debased their votes and denied equal protection of the laws. The complaint sought a declaratory judgment that the statute was unconstitutional. It also sought an injunction against conducting further elections under the statute. Alternative relief included at-large elections or a court-ordered reapportionment. A three-judge district court convened under 28 U.S.C. § 2281 dismissed the complaint. The court held that it lacked jurisdiction of the subject matter and that the complaint failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. The court characterized the controversy as a nonjusticiable political question. The Supreme Court noted probable jurisdiction. The case was argued in April 1961, set for reargument, reargued in October 1961, and decided on March 26, 1962.
View caseDefense counsel learns of an unfulfilled plea promise at the sentencing hearing. Counsel seeks to adjourn the hearing to prepare proof of the promise. The adjournment request allows time to address the breach before sentencing proceeds.
The State of New York indicted Santobello in 1969 on two felony counts of Promoting Gambling in the First Degree and Possession of Gambling Records in the First Degree. Santobello initially entered a plea of not guilty to both counts. After negotiations, the Assistant District Attorney agreed to permit a plea to the lesser-included offense of Possession of Gambling Records in the Second Degree and promised to make no recommendation as to sentence. On June 16, 1969, Santobello withdrew the not guilty plea and entered a guilty plea to the lesser charge. The court accepted the plea after Santobello confirmed it was voluntary and the facts described by the prosecutor were true. A series of delays followed, owing primarily to the absence of a pre-sentence report, so that by September 23, 1969, Santobello had still not been sentenced. By that date petitioner acquired new defense counsel. Petitioner's new counsel moved immediately to withdraw the guilty plea. In an accompanying affidavit, petitioner alleged that he did not know at the time of his plea that crucial evidence against him had been obtained as a result of an illegal search. In addition to his motion to withdraw his guilty plea, petitioner renewed the motion to suppress and filed a motion to inspect the grand jury minutes. These motions in turn caused further delay until November 26, 1969, when the court denied all three and set January 9, 1970, as the date for sentencing. On January 9, 1970, Santobello appeared before a different judge because the original judge had retired. A new prosecutor replaced the one who negotiated the plea and recommended the maximum one-year sentence, citing Santobello’s criminal record and alleged links with organized crime. Defense counsel objected on the ground that the State had promised no sentence recommendation and sought an adjournment to prove the promise, though the State later conceded in subsequent proceedings that the promise had been made. The sentencing judge imposed the maximum one-year sentence at the New York City Correctional Institution for men, stating that the prosecutor’s recommendation did not influence the decision. Santobello obtained a certificate of reasonable doubt and was admitted to bail pending appeal. The Appellate Division unanimously affirmed the conviction, and leave to appeal to the New York Court of Appeals was denied. Santobello then sought certiorari, which the Supreme Court granted.
View caseThe bill does not become law when Congress adjourns in a manner that prevents the President from returning it with objections.
The court may adjourn the hearing for a conciliation conference and must schedule the continued hearing not fewer than thirty nor more than sixty days later.
Yes. The President may adjourn the houses to a time the President thinks proper when they disagree about the time of adjournment.
Adjourning rather than recessing a meeting without incorporating conditions into an agreement can weaken the board's position in subsequent litigation over the transaction.
Adjourning a convention for two years preserves the possibility that a later legislature may broaden the convention's powers before it reconvenes.
Counsel may request adjournment to prepare proof that the prosecution breached a plea promise before the court imposes sentence.