Legal Analysis Paper

FACT PATTERN:

On January 25, 2016, Bella Swan discovered that Edward Cullen was selling his 4 bedroom, 3 bath home - located in Volturi Heights (a planned community just outside of Forks, Washington). Bella, who had long been interested in purchasing Edward's home, sent Edward an e-mail on January 28, 2016, offering to purchase Edward's home for $1,350,000. The email included the names of the parties, a legal description of the home, the date of sale, the date of closing, and directions on how and where payment would be made.

Edward responded via e-mail on January 29 stating that the terms were acceptable but the price was not. Edward changed the price to $1,575,000. On January 30, 2016, Bella sent Edward another email offering to purchase the house for $1,400,000 but left all other terms unchanged. By email dated February 01, Edward rejected this offer, but told Bella that if she was willing to marry him, and if she would pay all cash for the home then he (Edward) would accept $1,500,000. On February 2 Bella rejected Edward's offer of marriage but did agree to pay $1,500,000 in cash so long as Edward would sell the house fully furnished. In this new offer, Bella included her signature, a legal description of Edward's home, and all material terms.

Bella knew this last request was unrealistic, but she was hoping to find a way to obtain Edward's rare collection of signed Bob Kane paintings (Bella estimated that Edward's entire collection of Bob Kane paintings was valued at $500,000). Unfortunately for Bella, on February 3, Edward rejected Bella's offer.

After further reflection, on February 5 Edward sent Bella one further email - "I have an all-cash offer from another buyer for $1,700,000. If you are willing to pay $1,900,000 cash then I will sell you the home as is and will include one signed Bob Kane painting. All other terms as stated in your February 2 email are acceptable and are incorporated into this final offer." Bella, who feared losing the opportunity to purchase the home, and hoped to find a way to obtain more of the Bob Kane paintings, agreed.

The parties also agreed to waive all inspections and set closing to take place at 5pm on March 15, 2016. On March 10, Bella ordered her bank to transfer $1,900,000 from her personal bank account to Northwest Escrow at 9am on March 15. (All parties had previously agreed to use the services of Northwest Escrow to manage the sale and purchase of Edward's home). On the evening of March 14, Edward decided to sell his home to his longtime friend, Esme, for $500,000. Bella, who was not told of Edward's decision until she was in her car and driving to Northwest Escrow (at 2pm on March 15), was shocked by Edward's actions. She immediately called her attorney (Jacob Black) and made an appointment to see him within the hour. While on her way to Jacob's office Bella's car experienced a complete mechanical failure. She was able to pull her car off the highway and onto a side road. She tried to call for help, but could not locate a signal for her cell phone. Bella saw a home about a block away and decided to walk and ask for help.

While at the home, Bella was attacked by Jasper Hale (a well-known criminal). Bella's screams for help resulted in a severe beating. The beating was so severe, in fact, that she appeared to be dead. An aid car eventually arrived and rushed Bella to the nearest hospital. Her face was severely cut and the left side of her head was cracked and bleeding. In addition, her arms and legs were broken, and she suffered from massive internal bleeding. Fortunately, Bella survived. Bella remained in the hospital for several months and was then transferred to a long-term care facility in Seattle. The doctors were unsure if Bella would ever recover her memory. Jasper's attack caused terrible damage to Bella's brain. Medical specialists were brought in from around the world. It took several years, but on January 5, 2023, Bella's health was mostly restored. Bella lost all vision in her left eye and had to walk with the aid of a walker (her left leg had to be amputated and refitted with aprostheticleg). Bella's memory was completely restored.

On January 10, 2023, Bella met with her attorney. Jacob said, "You may have a problem with your lawsuit. The statute of limitations for breach of contract is six years. This means you should have filed your lawsuit not later than March 14, 2022. The best thing we can do is sue for breach of contract and argue that the six year statute of limitations should be tolled. I'm not sure if we can win on that one, but I think there's a good chance we can." Jacob explained the law to Bella as well as the arguments he planned to make. "What do you think?", asked Jacob. Bella thought Jacob had some great ideas. Bella decided to move forward with the lawsuit. Bella offered to give Jacob a $50,000 retainer and agreed to pay the rest of his fee based on whether he won or lost the case (Jacob would receive a higher rate of pay if he won and somewhat less if he lost). Jacob agreed to this payment arrangement.

Within a week Jacob, on behalf of Bella, filed the lawsuit in the appropriate state court against Edward Cullen. Bella is seeking damages in the amount of $1.9 million dollars (the price of the home) plus another $2,750,000 for medical costs, pain and suffering. In addition, they are asking for attorney fees.

For purposes of your analysis, you should assume that all parties are residents of the state of Washington.

DIRECTIONS

As part of your analysis, youmustuse the following rule of law:

In an action for breach of contract, the plaintiff must prove each of the following elements by a preponderance of the evidence:

1. Defendant's breach proximately caused plaintiff's damages.

IMPORTANT NOTES - Read Carefully:

(1) The parties will vigorously dispute all aspects of the rule of law. That said, the facts do not clearly show that any party will win. Accordingly, your analysis must present clear, full and fair arguments for all parties.

(2) Your analysismust bein the form of an IRAC (i.e., Issue; Rule; Application; Conclusion). For many of you the IRAC method of writing (analysis) is new. That's okay. So long as you are willing to put in the work, you can learn and apply this method of legal analysis. Over the years, I have seen hundreds of students successfully use the IRAC method. And always remember - I am here to help. Please feel free to ask questions if you get stumped on any part of this assignment.

You may also find it helpful to look through the following IRAC resources:

(a) Helpful YouTube Videos (NOTE: These videos provide helpful guidance on the basic IRAC format. The length is much different from your paper. The samples in these videos are for a brief case analysis. Your legal analysis will be much longer. (As noted above, you must review the posted samples to get a better idea of the structure of your paper.)

(1). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47W2gqqM54U(Links to an external site.)(Links to an external site.)

(2). Legal Writing: What is IRAC?(Links to an external site.)(Links to an external site.)

(b) IRAC for Essays:http://youveenteredlawland.com/irac-for-law-school-essays-and-exams/(Links to an external site.)

RESEARCH

(1)Research is required. ALL OF YOUR RESEARCH IS EXPECTED TO COME FROM THE SOURCES PROVIDED BELOW. If, after reading all of these sources, you find you need something more then (and only then) you may conduct additional research.

(2)Your research must be based onscholarlysources (e.g., case-law, statutes, legal journals, etc.).All of the sources identified below qualify as scholarly sources.If you are not certain what qualifies as a scholarly source, you should consult a college librarian. If you conduct internet research, scholarly sources usually end with a .gov or .edu extension. Popular internet sources (e.g., Wikipedia, law firm websites, etc.) do not count as scholarly sources. Such popular sources may be consulted for informational purposes, but may not be cited to or quoted from in the paper.

(2) All quotations must be carefully noted. No more than 15% of the paper may be in quotations. You must cite all relevant sources and make clear the extent to which outside sources were used. Words or ideas that require citation include, but are not limited to, all hard copy or electronic publications. Full blown citations are not necessary, but must contain sufficient information to identify the source (i.e., full title of the source and a link to the source (assuming you found the source on the internet.).

(3) All of the following resources may be downloaded by accessing the associated links. As some of these sources are stored on public websites, continuous access cannot be guaranteed. Therefore, you should download them immediately and either print each source or save it on your computer.

(4) Research Requirements. You must incorporate research fromat leastTENscholarly sources (a minimum of three cases, three statutes, two jury instructions and two legal journals). If you are not certain what qualifies as a scholarly source, you may want to consult a college librarian. If you conduct internet research, scholarly sources usually end with a .gov or .edu extension. Popular internet sources (e.g., wikipedia, law firm websites, etc.) do not count as scholarly sources. Such popular sources may be consulted for informational purposes, but may not be cited to or quoted from in the paper.

(5) As stated above, the research sources identified below will provide you with all of the necessary research you will need for your analysis. You may conduct your own research in addition to what is shown below. However: You should not conduct any research of your own until you have first examined the sources provided for you in this assignment. Accordingly, you must examine the following sources:

Academic Sources:

Washington Legal Research:https://caselaw.findlaw.com/washington.htmlLinks to an external site.(This source is a database of cases and statutes. It allows you to search by name, subject or citation. Because this source is a database, you will not cite to it. Instead, you will cite to any case, statute, etc. that you locate in the database.)

Primary Sources:

1. Cases:

(a)Keystone Land Dev. Xerox Corp. (This case provides a very good discussion of mutual assent)Links to an external site.

(b)Links to an external site.FDIC v. Uribe (Very helpful discussion on consideration).Links to an external site.Links to an external site.Links to an external site.

(c)Holt v. Holt (An excellent discussion of the court's power to determine the legality of a contract).Links to an external site.

(d)Rushing v. Franklin Hills Health & Rehab. (A great discussion of capacity)Links to an external site.

(e)McCracken v. Browne (A helpful discussion of a contract's essential terms)Links to an external site.

(f)Emberson v. Hartley (basic rules of consideration)Links to an external site.

Links to an external site.Links to an external site.

2. Revised Code of Washington (RCW):

(a)RCW 62A.2-725: Statute of limitations in contracts for sale.Links to an external site.

(b)RCW 4.16.190: Statute tolled by personal disability.Links to an external site.

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(c)RCW 62A.2-206: Offer & Acceptance in Contract FormationLinks to an external site.Links to an external site.Links to an external site.

(d)RCW 62A.2-610: Anticipatory RepudiationLinks to an external site.Links to an external site.

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(e)Uniform Electronic Transactions Act: RCW Chapter 1.80Links to an external site.

(f)RCW 28B.10.019: Electronic SignaturesLinks to an external site.

Links to an external site.

3. Washington Jury Instructions

Links to an external site.

(a)WPI 303.01 Measure of Expectation DamagesBreach of ContractLinks to an external site.

(b) WPI 303.03 ContractMeasure of DamagesDirect DamagesSpecial CasesLinks to an external site.

(c) WPI 303.05 ContractReliance DamagesLinks to an external site.

(d) WPI 303.06 ContractMitigation of DamagesLinks to an external site.