Contracts Flashcards
Can a party unilaterally rescind a contract if a mutual mistake of a material fact exists?
Yes, if it a basic assumption on which the contract is made.
One (of many) exceptions to a no past consideration rule:
where a technical defense such as the statute of limitations bars enforcement of the prior obligation and a new promise is made in writing.
A yoga instructor entered into a valid written contract with a builder to construct a large yoga studio on some land she owned outside of town. She agreed to pay the builder $150,000 upon completion of the job. As work progressed, and due to substantial increased building costs, the yoga instructor and the builder orally agreed that the builder may omit installation of the koi pond planned for the atrium (saving the builder $1,000), and that the contract price would be reduced to $149,500. The builder completed the job (minus the koi pond) in reliance thereon.
What would most courts likely hold this subsequent oral agreement to be?
Enforceable because there was consideration given by both parties
A young woman went to her local shoe shop and selected a pair of shoes. She gave the salesperson cash for the shoes. As the salesperson was putting the shoes into a bag, a robber brandishing a gun entered the store, forced the salesperson to put all of the money in the register into the bag with the shoes, and fled with the bag, the money, and the shoes. After the police had come, the young woman asked the salesperson to get her another pair of shoes. He told the young woman that she would have to pay for them again. The young woman refused.
If the young woman sues the shoe shop for another pair of shoes, who will prevail?
The young woman will prevail. Where the seller is a merchant, the risk of loss does not pass to the buyer until the buyer takes physical possession of the goods.
