1. Flora just graduated from Baruch College, where she majored in marketing and minored in law. Flora feels confident as she is a bit older than the typical college student. She is therefore in a rush to move forward with adult life and feels most qualified to do so. Following an elaborate graduation party, Flora decided it is time to move out of her parents’ home in Queens to an apartment in Manhattan. On July 1^st, she visits the upscale Collegian building in Soho and falls in love with a duplex loft at a monthly rental of $5000. Larry, the owner of the building, and Flora agree to a one-year lease to start on August 1^st.

Flora feels confident that she can cover the $60,000 annual rental because earlier that day, she met with Giorgio, the president of the Giorgio Ad Agency. At the interview, Giorgio, who is very impressed with Flora’s credentials, offered her an assistant manager position for a one-year period to start immediately, which Flora immediately accepted.

Now that Flora has found what she thinks are the perfect job and apartment, she enters “The Pippa”, a high-end ladies’ boutique to buy professional-looking pant suits. She buys three outfits at a total cost of $2750, excluding tax. She pays for these items with her Zelle account, which is linked to her father’s bank account.

Much later that same afternoon as she continues on her Soho adventure, she accepts a phone call on her smartphone from Giorgio, who calls to inform her that he is rescinding his job offer. He explains that although Flora has an exemplary transcript from Baruch College, he doubts that she will be a good fit for the company because this is her first job after college in what can, at times, be a toxic male work environment. Flora insists that she can hold her own, but Giorgio is adamant that her job, if she ever had one with the ad agency, is no longer available.

As Flora continues to walk the Soho streets, she accepts another call from Larry, who is calling to express his concerns about Flora’s credit worthiness. He explains that because he was so impressed with her Baruch College background, he forgot to mention his absolute requirement that all new tenants, including Flora, must have a guarantor sign the lease. Flora angrily replies that this was not part of their agreement and that, in any event, the lease is not enforceable.

Flora decides that her financial future suddenly looks dim, and she cannot afford to splurge on the expensive outfits. When she tries to return them to “The Pippa,” John Pippa, the owner of the boutique, refuses to accept the return of the outfits. He also refuses to refund the money to Flora. Pippa tells Flora, “We have a done deal. It’s over”.

Flora contacts you for legal advice.

What legal issues exist with the above arrangements? Which represent enforceable contracts?.

Explain fully your legal reasoning for each transaction and incident, detailing Flora’s rights, if any.

1. Over the last six months, John has lost fifty pounds. He is about ten pounds shy of his 200 lbs. goal weight. He has been told that the last ten pounds are the hardest to lose, but John persists.

In an effort to reach his goal weight, John joins the “Ucan-Do-It” gym (UCAN) in Manhattan. When he enrolled, he was advised to use the “Exorciser” Model XYZ, the latest model of a treadmill, manufactured by the MeltAway Corp. (MAC), which Ucan bought five months ago from Bodywill Distributors. Ucan regularly purchases equipment made by MeltAway Corp.(MAC).

John is exercising vigorously on the Exorcisor when a belt snaps on the treadmill, which causes the treadmill to stop abruptly. John is thrown from the Exorcisor and he suffers severe injuries. As a result of the fall, John breaks his pelvis and fractures his right elbow and right wrist. John is right-handed and this fracture impedes his ability to write, dress and drive the car. He is still hospitalized and will require extensive physical therapy after he is discharged from the hospital. He is told by his doctor that it is presently unclear whether he will make a complete recovery. Because of this unfortunate turn of events, John has become quite moody and depressed.

John retains Jane, a well-known attorney with twenty years’ experience as a litigator. She discovers the following:

1. MAC, the manufacturer of the new model treadmill, decided to use a lower grade plastic instead of the heavy-duty grade plastic band it usually uses in order to save $3.00 per treadmill
2. MAC issued a completely revised new user’s manual which was taped to the console of the treadmill. The new user’s manual contained multiple warnings, in bold print and in red ink, which warned that users not exceed the maximum speed beyond 20 minutes of use. John was exercising on the treadmill for 40 minutes at the maximum speed when he was thrown from the treadmill
3. Clement, an employee at UCAN, who unpacked and assembled the treadmill, discarded the users’ manual without showing it to the UCAN supervisor
4. Per MAC directions, UCAN was to have the treadmill serviced, as part of its regular maintenance, after four months from the date of purchase. UCAN decided to save on service fees and did not have the treadmill serviced in accordance with the MAC instructions.
5. John also tells you that when he applied for membership at UCAN, Lisa, the sales rep at the gym, told John that he could easily drop ten to fifteen pounds in six weeks if he adhered to a four-times a week exercise regimen. John insists that Lisa never fully explained the exercise protocols. Lisa, however, denies John’s claims and says that she spent at least one hour explaining these protocols, and in fact, she gave him detailed written instructions.

Detail and explain all of the various potential claims by John included in the facts (not just 1-5 above).

What defenses can be made by UCAN? By MAC?

1. A. Brad, a recent Baruch College graduate, just opened a retail clothing business in Brooklyn. Prior to opening his shop, Brad did extensive research and knows which brands can be purchased at the best price.

On November 20^th, he receives a written offer from Jay’s Denim Co. to buy 10 dozen bell-bottom jeans at $100 per dozen, delivery by December 10^th. The offer states that it expires on December 4^th. Before he accepts the offer, Brad learns from Julie, his girlfriend, that the same model denim jeans are selling for $90 per dozen at Annie’s Denims. Julie knows this because Sally, her next-door neighbor, showed her the written offer from Annie’s Denims.

Brad is desperate to stock his shelves in time for the Christmas shopping season and mails acceptance letters to both Jay’s Denim and Annie’s Denim on December 4^th. These acceptance letters are received on December 6^th.

As of December 15^th, neither Jay’s Denim nor Annie’s Denim has delivered the goods ordered. When Brad calls each company to inquire about the delay in the shipments, both companies claim that they do not have contracts with Brad.

Can Brad successfully sue Jay’s Denim? How about Annie’s Denims?

B. Assume instead, that Brad buys 100 dozen denim jeans from Jimbo’s Jeans Co. at $100 per dozen. The goods are delivered on time to Brad. However, Brad just discovered that 10% of the jeans are defective and refuses to pay the $10,000 invoice. Jimbo’s insists that they delivered top quality goods to Brad. Brad mails a $9,000 check payable to Jimbo’s Jeans and marks the check “paid in full”. He attaches a post-it to the check and explains why he deducted the $10,000 amount.

i. Should Jimbo’s Denims cash this check? What, if anything, can Jimbo’s Denims do should they decide to cash the check?

ii. Would your answer be different if Brad had Tony, his assistant, deliver the $9,000 payment, in cash, to Jimbo’s?

iii. Would your answer be different if Jimbo’ Jeans cashes the check from Brad for $9,000 but asserts that Brad is lying about the quality of the jeans. Jimbo's Jeans then asserts fraud in its claim for the other $1,000 against Brad.