Avery v. Cleary was a Supreme Court case that was decided in 1965. The case involved a dispute between two parties over the ownership of a piece of property in the state of Michigan. The plaintiff, Avery, claimed that he had purchased the property from the defendant, Cleary, in 1959. Cleary, however, argued that he had never sold the property to Avery and that he still owned it. The Supreme Court ultimately sided with Avery, ruling that he had indeed purchased the property from Cleary in 1959. The Court found that Cleary had made a valid contract with Avery and that Avery had fulfilled his obligations under the contract. The Court also found that Cleary had failed to provide any evidence that he had not sold the property to Avery. As a result, the Court ruled that Avery was the rightful owner of the property.

In the Supreme Court case of Avery v. Cleary, Justice Harlan delivered a dissenting opinion in which he argued that the majority had misinterpreted and misapplied existing precedent. He believed that the decision should have been based on whether or not there was an implied contract between Avery and Cleary rather than solely on whether or not they were partners. In his view, it did not matter if they were formally associated as partners; what mattered was if their actions indicated an agreement to share profits from their business venture. Furthermore, Justice Harlan felt that since both parties had acted as though there was such an agreement in place for some time before any dispute arose, then this should be taken into consideration when determining liability for breach of contract. Ultimately, he concluded by stating that while it may be true that no formal partnership existed between them at law, one could still exist in fact due to mutual understanding and conduct of the parties involved - something which must be considered when deciding cases like these.