Chapter 20 Flashcards
This term means a wrongful act that causes one person to suffer loss or harm. It is a duty of care imposed by law that requires none of the essential elements of a contract. They typically have the following characteristics:
They are civil rather than criminal
They are not violations of agreements, but of law
Select one:
a. Tort
b. Contract
c. Breach of confidence
d. Tortfeasor
Correct Answer: Duress
Rationale: Duress is defined as a threat or act, whether aimed at personal property or a person that induces or causes another person to perform some act against his or her will. This can be actual or perceived physical force directed against the party or a family member and does not have to be performed by a party to the contract as long as the party benefiting knows of the threat. If duress is present, a contract is voidable.
Relevant section(s) of the textbook: 20.3 Contractual Defects
The correct answer is: Duress
This term refers to a false statement that causes or helps to cause a party to enter into a contract:
Select one:
a. Void
b. Misrepresentation
c. Mistake
d. Voidable
Correct Answer: Condition Precedent
Rationale: A Condition Precedent is a clause in a contract that describes an event that must occur before the contract can be performed.
Relevant section(s) of the textbook: 20.5 Discharging a Contract
The correct answer is: Condition Precedent
This term refers to the performance of all or part of a contract’s obligations by a third party:
Select one:
a. Vicarious Performance
b. Condition Subsequent
c. Privity of Contract
d. Condition Precedent
Correct Answer: Not publicly available
Rationale: This tort occurs when the defendant discloses confidential information to another party or parties to the detriment of the plaintiff. The breach must be of information that:
a) Was not publicly available
b) Was part of a promise not to disclose, and
c) In sharing harmed the plaintiff
Relevant section(s) of the textbook: 20.9 Types of Torts
The correct answer is: Not publicly available
This term refers to a situation in which only the parties to a contract may enforce it:
Select one:
a. Privity of Contract
b. Condition Precedent
c. Condition Subsequent
d. Assignment
Correct Answer: Quantum Meruit
Rationale: Quantum Meruit is Latin for “as much as is deserved” and is an amount determined by a court, where the contract stipulates that an amount of consideration will be paid but where the amount of that consideration has not been stipulated in the contract.
Relevant section(s) of the textbook: 20.6 Breach of Contract and Contractual Remedies
The correct answer is: Quantum Meruit
This term refers to when one or more parties to a contract realize there was a misunderstanding about a fundamental term or condition of the contract:
Select one:
a. Voidable
b. Void
c. Mistake
d. Misrepresentation
Correct Answer: Unconscionable Acts
Rationale: Unconscionable Acts
Relevant section(s) of the textbook: 20.3 Contractual Defects
The correct answer is: Unconscionable Acts
This term refers to an award of money by the court, designed to put the innocent party in the position he or she would have been had the contract been performed:
Select one:
a. Damages
b. Injunction
c. Quantum Meruit
d. Rescission
Correct Answer: Contract
Rationale: Contract: Simply stated, a contract is a legally enforceable agreement made between two or more parties.
Relevant section(s) of the textbook: 20.1 What is a Contract?
The correct answer is: Contract
This term refers to a court order that prohibits a party from doing something or acting in a certain manner:
Select one:
a. Quantum Meruit
b. Damages
c. Injunction
d. Rescission
Correct Answer: Undue Influence
Rationale: Undue Influence can be described as any pressure or act of persuasion, short of physical force and therefore not meeting the definition of duress, that overcomes an individual’s judgment and free will. Courts have found opportunity for undue influence in confidential relationships between husband and wife, those engaged to be married, parent and child, trustee and beneficiary, and so on. Under these circumstances, the contract would be void.
Relevant section(s) of the textbook: 20.3 Contractual Defects
The correct answer is: Undue Influence
This term refers to a clause in a contract that describes an event that must occur before the contract can be performed:
Select one:
a. Condition Subsequent
b. Condition Precedent
c. Vicarious Performance
d. Privity of Contract
Rationale: An Assignment is a transfer of rights from one party of a contract to another. The rule of privity of contract does not apply under this scenario. While the rights of a contract may be assigned, the liabilities cannot. A borrower in a mortgage contract, for example, cannot simply inform a lender that he or she has assigned his or her responsibility to repay the lender’s loan to another party.
Relevant section(s) of the textbook: 20.4 Contractual Rights
The correct answer is: Assignment
This term refers to a contract that can be voided at the discretion of one of the parties, due to a contractual defect:
Select one:
a. Void
b. Mistake
c. Misrepresentation
d. Voidable
Correct Answer: Rescission
Rationale: Rescission: In contrast to damages, rescission is an order designed to put the parties to a contract in the position they would have been in had the contract never been made. This is an option in a void or voidable contract.
Relevant section(s) of the textbook: 20.6 Breach of Contract and Contractual Remedies
The correct answer is: Rescission
This term refers to a contract that is deemed to never have existed at all because it was never enforceable:
Select one:
a. Void
b. Misrepresentation
c. Voidable
d. Mistake
Correct Answer: Condition Subsequent
Rationale: A Condition Subsequent is a clause in a contract that describes a future event that must occur for the contract to be cancelled.
Relevant section(s) of the textbook: 20.5 Discharging a Contract
The correct answer is: Condition Subsequent
