Notes

Everyday Law
Chapter 6: Genuine Agreement
Sample Cases

For the following cases, give your decision/or answer the question posed to you by using your notes and any legal principles that apply. BE VERY SPECIFIC.

Bob and Jonny decide to agree to swap their prized collections. Bob will give Jonny his baseball cards, and Jonny will give Bob his Matchbox cars. As they are about to exchange, Bob realizes that Jonny instead has a Hot Wheels collection. Is there a contract? What, if any, was the mistake that was made?


Bob was under the impression that he was getting Matchbox cars, not Hot Wheels car. Therefore, Jonny is violating the agreement, so there is no contract.







Susan goes to the BMW dealership in town and is looking to buy a flashy sportscar to impress her new boyfriend with. The salesperson tells Susan that “this Z4 is going to get your boyfriend on the cover of Car and Driver with the way it handles.” Susan is so impressed with the car, she buys it. Not realizing that there’s now way it’ll get on the cover of Car and Driver. Is the promise that the salesperson making to Susan fraudulent? Why or why not?



Because the part of the agreement where the salesperson says the boyfriend will end up on the magazine was not in writing, it is not legally enforceable. Therefore, Susan is wrong.







Romano just arrived to the United States from overseas. He’s getting processed for his green card, but doesn’t want to wait to start working. He goes into the first place with a “Help Wanted” sign and asks (in very broken English) for a job. They present him an employment contract, about 90% of it he can’t read, and he signs it. Romano now finds out that a lot of his personal liberties are curtailed with this job and he’s treated unfairly. Is he bound to the stipulations of the contract even though he could never read English? Why or why not? If this is a mistake, what type (specifically) is it?


No, he cannot be bound to the contract because he did not have the capacity to sign it. This is because he could not understand what he was signing.





Carmine decides to take a trip into New York City. But before he goes, he wants to make sure he has something fun to do there. So he goes online and orders a ticket to a Yankees/Red Sox game from eBay. The seller has listed the tickets as being box seats along the first base line for the day he’s going into the city and they’re going for only $100! Carmine buys them, and he’s instructed to pick them up from the seller at the 161st street platform outside the stadium. When Carmine gets there, he gets the tickets and he goes to the front of the line where he finds out that the ticket was for last night’s game. Is this an example of a fraudulent deal? If so, outline the 5 elements of fraud that make it that way? If not, what makes this deal completely legitimate and Carmine is out the $100?


Carmine is out of the 100 dollars. It was his responsibility to authenticate the tickets. This is called due diligence.



Sophie and Manny really want to sell their house. Badly. But the problem is that it needs a lot of repairs and they don’t have the time to fix them themselves, or the money to pay someone else to do it. So they decide to do (what they think) is the next best thing. Manny covers the huge hole in the roof with just some shingles, Sophie spackles a big dent in the wall where the pipes are exposed and paints over it, and then the both of them slide a huge concrete slab over the opening in the basement where part of the septic is leaking in. Poor Judi and Sam buy the house after just getting married and think they have a great deal until the roof caves in, a pipe bursts through into the living room, and the basement starts to flood with…..well, let’s not talk about that. What did Sophie and Manny do that was fradulent? And what is that called, specificall? (Hint: There’s a key term for it)


It is called misrepresentation. It is considered fraud. He intended to deceive Judi and Sam.




Frank, Marty, and Katie are at a flea market. Frank spots a bunch of old, worthless comics for sale and he immediately rifles through them because he wants to start a collection of what he thinks are rare editions. The guy who is selling them can see that Frank doesn’t know what he’s doing and figures he can make a quick buck. “Watch me swindle this kid,” he mutters within earshot of Katie. “Hey kid, you know those are all first edition comics?” Frank is too excited to look through them to hear what the salesperson says and picks up the box to buy them. The transaction ends and Katie says, “You know he lied to you, right?” Frank is shocked, and goes back to try and get his money returned. Explain to me why he CAN’T.


This was a unilateral mistake where Frank did not do his due diligence (his responsibility). Therefore, the agreement is valid.





Joquin sees an advertisement for “Homes for Humanity,” a community-building volunteer organization. He decides to go on his day off of work to help out and do something to give back to his community. He spends ten hours doing a lot of back-breaking work along with ten other people to help build a really nice house. Afterwards, the group goes to a diner where they are talking about the project, when another customer overhears them. “Oh, ‘Homes for Humanity’. You know that’s a scam, right? They sell those houses for profit and pretend to be a charity to get free volunteers.” Joquin is mad and goes home to research it and finds out that the customer was right. Can Joquin sue for fraud? Why or why not?


Yes. The organization was misrepresented as a charitable group.





You and your friend are going to the movies. Your friend tells you that the show is at 9:15 so be ready around 9. When the two of you get to the movies, the show actually started at nine and it’s sold out. You are miffed and mad at your friend. Obviously you can’t sue, but what sort of untrue statement did your friend make? What’s the official key term for this? Create another example of this kind of untrue statement.
The type of mistake is the reliance on the false statement made by the friend. Another example is if you investment advisor gives you advice that turns out to make you lose money.
What are the two MAIN types of mistakes? What is the difference between the two? Which type of mistake usually permits the mistaken party(parties) to cancel the contract and why? Which type doesn’t permit the mistaken party(parties) to cancel the contract and why not?


Unilateral mistake and mutual mistake. Unilateral mistake is when one party makes a mistake and mutual mistake is when a mistake is shared by both parties. A mutual mistake cancels a contract and a unilateral mistake does not.







Vinny signs a contract where he’s supposed to pay $25 a week in order to have top-quality steaks delivered to his house every Friday. This coming Friday, he gets his steaks and while he’s eating he looks at the bill and realizes he was charged $250. He calls the company and complains, only to find out there’s no mistake in the billing policy. Vinny realizes he read it wrong. Can he sue? Can he rescind the contract? Why or why not? What’s the legal principle here?


No. He should have done his due diligence. The contract was in writing. It cannot be rescinded.








Francine is a real estate agent who knows her client, Frank Alford is interested in buying a home. She has a perfect home in mind but lost Frank’s contact info. So she opens the phone book, flips to his name and calls him up to offer him the house. Frank says yes and she tells him to stop by later to sign the deed for the sale. When Frank shows up, it’s not the Frank that Francine knows. She opens the phone book back up and realizes she called the wrong Frank Alford! Can Francine rescind this contract? Why or why not?

Yes because of the Statute of Frauds. Real estate contracts have to be in writing.










Nicholas offers to sell his fireworks factory to Gene for about $200,000 dollars. They sign a contract to turn the factory over for the money a week from today. Unfortunately, someone tosses a cigarette from a moving car that lights the surrounding area on fire and the factory explodes. What happens with the contract now? What’s the legal principle here?

The contact no longer exists because the object of the contract no longer exists.