Also known as: sums payable · payable sum · payable sums · amount payable · sum due
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An amount due under a legal obligation or instrument. The term identifies the fixed or calculable sum that a party must tender to satisfy a debt, covenant, or negotiable instrument in full.
Olivia settled with one radiology group for $400,000 after suffering indivisible brain damage and executed a covenant that preserved her claim against the hospital operator. The hospital later argued that the earlier payment should reduce the total sum payable on any judgment against it. The court credited the $400,000 against the damages award, leaving the hospital responsible only for the remaining balance.
Field Studios agreed in an old deed to pay Maple Events a monthly consulting fee with no stated total amount or termination date. After Maple Events stopped providing services, Field Studios stopped paying. The court held that the covenant terminated after a reasonable time because the instrument never specified the total sum payable.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A school district arranged for religious instructors to teach students during school hours on public property. Parents challenged the arrangement as an unconstitutional use of public resources. The court examined whether any sum payable from tax revenues supported the program and concluded that the practice violated the establishment clause.
A city granted property-tax exemptions to churches and other religious organizations. Taxpayers argued that the exemptions constituted an impermissible subsidy. The court reviewed whether the exemptions effectively required payment of a sum from general revenues and upheld the exemptions as consistent with the establishment clause.
A bank sold shares in a closely held corporation without disclosing material facts to the buyer. The buyer later discovered the nondisclosure and sued for damages. The court calculated the sum payable as the difference between the purchase price and the corporation's actual value at the time of sale.
A city condemned a strip of railroad land to open a public street. The railroad argued that the taking diminished the value of its remaining terminal facilities. The court required the city to pay the railroad the sum payable for the land taken plus any proven depreciation to the remainder.
A payment by one tortfeasor reduces the amount payable by the others on the same indivisible harm. The plaintiff remains entitled to only one full recovery, so any judgment against a remaining defendant is credited by the earlier payment.
A covenant to pay money or provide services terminates after a reasonable time when the creating instrument specifies neither the total sum due nor a definite termination point. The rule does not apply to concurrent services or obligations to a common-interest community.
When the promise of performance that is consideration for an instrument has been partially performed, the holder may assert holder-in-due-course rights only to the fraction of the amount payable equal to the value of the partial performance divided by the value of the promised performance.
…enacted by the General Assembly, That for the support of Christian teachers, per centum on the amount, or in the pound on the sum payable for tax on the property within this Commonwealth, is hereby assessed, and shall be paid by every person chargeable with the said tax at the time the same shall become due; and the Sheriffs…