Case Study Number 6 - Week 9 - The Ending of a Contract

Larry Lazy runs a lawncare service for the cottage owners on Glorious Point, the most beautiful and most expensive cottage properties in Ontario. Every April he contacts his customers to see if they want to have him do the service for the summer. He gets the customers to sign a service agreement. It explains what work he is to do every week, and what day of the month the people should pay him. The contracts start in May and end in October.

Towards the end of last summer, Larry decided he was not risking the pandemic and stopped cutting lawns when he could tell the cottage owners were staying at their cottage. If the cottage was vacant, he would do his work. But when people were around the property, he stayed away.

Cindy Socialclimber has owned a cottage on Glorious Point for the last few years. She decided that she wanted to sell it to buy a bigger one. She put her cottage up for sale. Larry was responsible for the care of the lawns on either side of Cindy. Cindy did not have a contract with Larry. She liked to do her own lawn care and landscaping. She always said that no one would put in the care for her place that she needed.

The Flexible Family had the cottage on the left of Cindy. They told Larry that they understood his concern so they would cut their own grass while up at the cottage. They told Larry, not to worry, the season was almost over, and they would not expect him to come back. They would pay him anyway because, "That's what good people do in these hard times."

The Strict Family lived on the other side of Cindy. They told Larry that they expected him to do his work, whether or not, they were there. They told Larry that if he didn't do the work, they would not pay him and sue him "for everything they could get." They did not pay him. Larry stopped doing the work there.

Andy Absent lived four doors down and was never there. Larry took care of his place as required by their agreement. Andy paid all the payments on time.

It is now November. Cindy has still not sold her cottage. She thinks it is because the cottages on either side of her's looked so bad. Larry did not do the care and did not cut the lawns. They got overgrown and unsightly. Cindy says that it reflected badly on her place and no one would want to buy her cottage because the neighbours did not care for their cottages. She wants to sue Larry for the breach of his contracts with The Flexible family and the Strict family.

The Strict Family is suing Larry for not doing the work while they were staying at their cottage.

1. Explain in detail the concept of Privity of Contract and what it means to Cindy in her lawsuit against Larry.