Daniel’s house is for sale. In his living room are two valuable original paintings by a well-known Artist, one of the California coastlines and the other of a field of Golden State wildflowers. Daniel recently refused an offer from Museum to purchase the paintings for $10,000 each. Pam went to Daniel’s house hoping to buy the house before she left on a business trip. As Pam, Daniel and his real estate broker, Bill, inspected the house, Pam noticed the paintings in the living room, commenting that they were beautiful and seemed designed to fit in the house. Pam then offered $400,000 for the house and another $50,000 if the sale included the two paintings. Daniel agreed and asked Bill to draft a contract for the sale of the house and the two paintings for $450,000. Bill promised to have the contract ready before Pam left town the next day. Bill drafted a written contract, which Daniel signed even though he noticed that Bill had mistakenly omitted from the sale the painting of the California coastline. Daniel met Pam at the train station, as her train was about to depart. Daniel gave the contract to Pam, telling her, “This is what we agreed to, and I’ve already signed it.” Pam’s train started to move, so she quickly signed the contract without reading it and jumped on board the train. When Pam returned from her trip, she was horrified to find that the California coastline painting was not in the house. She immediately telephoned Daniel to ask about the painting, but he told her, “That’s what the contract we signed provides,” and hung up. Six months after Pam moved into the house, she noticed in a local newspaper advertisement that Daniel was offering to sell the painting of the California coastline to the highest bidder at an auction two weeks later.

 

Required: Is there a contract between Daniel and Pam? If so what are the elements of that contract? If not why not? What remedy or remedies can Pam reasonably obtain against Daniel? Discuss. What defense or defenses can Daniel reasonably raise? Discuss.