Contract Law Assignment – Scenarios
Please answer the following questions by explaining the elements of a contract, quasi-contract, or promissory estoppel (as prompted by the question). If the scenario resembles a particular case from the reading, please reference that case as well in your answer. Be sure to provide an explanation for each answer.
1. After a recent snowstorm, Jack goes over to his neighbor’s house and promises to pay Jill $100 if she will shovel the snow in front of his house. Jill gets dressed and begins to clear the snow for the next hour. In the meantime, because the sun came out and began to melt the snow, Jack tells Jill to stop shoveling the snow and refuses to pay her the $100 he offered.
a. Have Jack and Jill entered into a valid offer and acceptance creating a binding contract?
b. Is this a bilateral or unilateral contract?
i. Explain the difference.
c. How does the concept of “substantial performance” help us determine the nature of this agreement?
2. Jack, a college student, decides to offer his old chemistry book to his good friend Jill, who will be taking chemistry next semester. Jack then receives an offer from Isabelle to purchase the book for $50. Jack accepts the offer and then tells Jill that he will not give her the chemistry book that he had promised. Jill gets quite upset because she relied on Jack’s promise and decided not to buy any of the limited number of used textbooks in the bookstore since Jack promised her use of his old textbook. Jack then realizes that the school store will pay $100 for used chemistry books, which are in high demand for the following semester. Jack decides to sell his book to the bookstore for $100.
a. Does Jill have a claim for breach of contract against Jack? Does she have any other valid claims against Jack?
b. Does Isabelle have a valid claim for breach of contract against Jack? Does she have any other valid claims against Jack?
3. Jill sees an advertisement in a local circular that states: The first customer to walk in the door at 8am on Wednesday morning (November 2nd) will be entitled to purchase a new flat screen television (retail value $500) for only $25. After the advertisement gets printed, the department store realizes that the advertisement failed to include an additional “0,” which would have brought the sale price to $250 rather than $25. Jill claims that she should be entitled to the sale price of $25 because she was the first person in the store on November 2nd
at 8am and that the advertisement created a binding offer on the part of department store, which she accepted when she met the terms of the offer by being the first person in the store on the date and time listed.
a. Does Jill have a valid contract claim against the store? Explain.
b. In order for an offer to be definite, what elements must it contain?
4. Jill promised her great-grandson Jack that he would be paid a sum of $5,000 if he refrained from drinking, using tobacco, and gambling until he turned 21. Jill passed away before she was able to transfer the amount promised to Jack on his 21st
birthday and the executor of her estate refused to give that amount to Jack. Jack claimed that his great-grandmother entered into a binding contract with him, which he accepted by refraining from drinking, smoking, and gambling until he was 21. The executor claimed that Jack did not have the proper consideration to enter into a binding agreement because he did not provide anything of value in exchange for the $5,000. Everything he did was necessary for his own health and welfare and could not be sufficient legal consideration for a contract.
a. Does Jack have a valid contract with his great-grandmother?
b. What does it mean to have sufficient “consideration” to enter into a contractual agreement?
5. While Jack was on vacation, Jill offered to water his plants each day. This turned out to be a significant burden for Jill due to a recent snowstorm, which made driving even a few blocks particularly dangerous. When Jack returned home, Jill asked that she be compensated for her time and effort. Jack offered to pay Jill $200 for the work she already completed that week and Jill accepted. But when Jack realized that he spent more on his vacation than he intended, he decided to rescind that offer.
a. Does Jill have a valid breach of contract claim against Jack?
b. What element, if any, is missing for the establishment of a contract?
6. Jill, who has been working as a chef for several years, is considering building her own restaurant. She speaks to a contractor who promises to construct a restaurant for $10,000. Jill has only $15,000 in savings and decides to put some of that money toward her new restaurant. She informs the contractor of her total potential contribution in savings and asks him to begin work on the restaurant. Once the contractor begins work on the restaurant, Jill is informed that the cost will now be no more than $15,000. Jill decides to quit her job in reliance on the new restaurant opening and begins attending new business planning meetings. In the following month, the contractor informs Jill that the cost will now be at least $25,000. Because Jill left her job in order to pursue her new business venture, she does not have the additional capital to continue building the restaurant.
a. Can Jill claim that her contractor breached an express or implied contract to construct the restaurant?
b. Can Jill recover under the doctrine of promissory estoppel?
i. Explain the elements of promissory estoppel.
7. Merchant’s Firm Offer and Mirror Image Rule
a. Describe and Explain.