Question 1:

Eileen entered into a contract with Cellular One for the purchase of a cell phone

and for a year's worth of cell phone service. A week after the contract was made,

Eileen suffered a stroke and was rendered mentally incompetent. Unfortunately,

Eileen no longer had any use for the phone and she was unable to understand the

service agreement, why she was being billed or even what the purpose of the phone

was. Cellular One was told of Eileen's stroke but they insisted on enforcing the

contract and they sued Eileen. You are the judge, how would you rule and why?

Question 2:

Ken was a very mature looking 17 year old whom everyone always mistook for

being much older. Pursuing his interest in computers, Ken enrolled in Compu School, a

business and vocational school which taught computer training. On his application and

to all school administrators, Ken maintained that he was 20 years old which was a very

believable lie given his mature appearance. After just two months of training, and

before his 18th birthday, Ken dropped out of Compu School and disaffirmed his

contract for enrollment with the school. In response, Compu School sued Ken for

unpaid tuition.

a) If you were the judge, how would you rule and why?

b) Assume also that Ken bought a computer from Digisoft Computer Retailers

when he enrolled in the school (i.e., while he was 17 years old). Ken had a 36 month

payment plan whereby he would pay $50 a month. Ken kept the computer and

continued to make monthly payments on it until just days before his 19th birthday

when he returned the computer to Digisoft and disaffirmed the contract. Digisoft

refused to take the computer back and now sues Ken for the remaining payments. Ken

insists that due to his age at the time of the contract he is not liable for the payments. If

you were the judge, how would you rule and why?

Question 3:

Diane and Cindy had scheduled a business meeting over dinner at Le Restaurant.

Cindy arrived at the restaurant and met Diane at the bar where she had been waiting.

Together they walked to their table for dinner and Diane appeared to be a bit unsteady

on her feet. Over dinner Diane's speech seemed to be a bit slurred but Cindy thought

nothing of it and she honestly believed that Diane was sober. By the meal's end,

Diane had agreed to cater Cindy's company banquet for $1,000. The next day,

Diane woke-up, emerging from an alcohol induced daze of the night before, and

realized that she made a bad deal and that she should have agreed to cater the party for

$5000 but, because of her intoxication, she had felt generous. Diane now wants out of the agreement.

If you were the judge in whose favor would you rule and why?

Question 4:

Jennifer was a big Howard Stern fan who always listened to his radio show before he left terrestrial radio for satellite. In order to remain a loyal listener, Jennifer decided to buy a satellite radio and a one year's subscription for service. Jennifer contacted the satellite radio company "Satcom Radio" and asked to purchase "1 satellite radio and 1 year-long subscription." Satcom Radio sold Jennifer a radio and signed her up for a year long subscription.

Once Jennifer got her radio home and turned it on she realized that Howard Stern is not on "Satcom Radio" but on "Sirius/XM Radio" instead, a completely different satellite radio company. Jennifer returned to the Satcom Radio dealer and explained that she had made a mistake and wished to disaffirm her contract. Satcom Radio, desperate for subscribers, insists on enforcing their agreement.

Does Jennifer have a valid defense to the enforcement of the Satcom Radio contract? If so, why? If not, why not?

Question 5:

Kramer visited Vintage Book Store, a retailer of rare books, where he bought a

signed copy of the novel The Lord of the Rings. The book bore the signature "J.R.R. Tolkien 1976." The store clerk assured Kramer that the signature was authentic.

Unfortunately, unbeknownst to Kramer, it was a fake. Kramer later showed the

book to George who was a great fan of Tolkien. Kramer offered to sell the book to

George for $500, because Kramer honestly believed it was an original, signed copy. As familiar with Tolkien as he was, George had some doubt that the signature was authentic but he accepted Kramer's representations and the offer nonetheless.

George later had the book appraised and discovered that it was a fraud. In fact, the appraiser told George that it was quite clearly a fake since Tolkien died in 1973. George tried to return the book but Kramer refused to accept it so instead, George stopped the payment on his check.

Kramer sued George for breach of contract and George's attorney raised the

defenses of a) mutual mistake; and b) innocent misrepresentation. Analyze each

defense in light of the facts given and the likelihood that George will prevail.