Section Four

10 points

Directions:Using your knowledge of contract formation and defenses, please review the following scenarios and state whether there is a valid contract, that is an offer, acceptance and consideration, and, if so, is it enforceable.

7.A gambler lives in a state where gambling was illegal. Nevertheless, he gambled on a regular basis. He asked his friend to lend him $5,000 to bet on a football game. His friend agreed to lend him $5,000 if the gambler would bet half of it on the friend's behalf. The gambler agreed, took his friend's $5,000, and placed the bet. The gambler won on 4-to-1 odds. He gave his friend his $5,000 back but refused to tender any winnings.

a.If his friend sues the gambler to recover the winnings due under the contract, who will prevail?

8.On November 3, an investor who had watched his stocks sink to unprecedented low levels sent a fax message to a dealer in precious metals: "Please quote your best price on 800 troy ounces platinum bars for immediate delivery at my bank." At 10 a.m. the next morning (November 4) the dealer replied by fax, "My best price is $475 per ounce." The investor received the dealer's message later on that same day.

a.Is there a contract if funds are sent by the end of the day on November 4th?

9.A student and her boyfriend were going away to college and had quite a few personal belongings to transport. The student drove in her car while her father and her boyfriend rode in the father's van. About halfway to the college, while the van and the car were driving down the freeway, the van suddenly swerved out of control and ran off the highway, ending up on its side in the center divider. When the student ran to the van, she discovered to her horror that her father was dead, and her boyfriend appeared to be injured, but not severely. Because her father previously had heart trouble, the student assumed that he had had a heart attack while driving. Filled with remorse, the student told her boyfriend, "I'm so sorry about this. I'll make good any losses you suffer because of this accident."

The boyfriend learned that he had suffered an injury to his spinal column that would prevent him from ever playing basketball again. He had been a scholarship athlete in basketball at the college and was considered to be a certain high draft selection for a professional basketball league when he graduated. The boyfriend brought an action against the student for several million dollars in damages. A subsequent investigation revealed that the accident was caused solely by a defect in the steering mechanism of the van.

a.Is there a valid contract between boyfriend and girlfriend?

b.Assuming there is a contract, can you think of any defenses the student could assert against her boyfriend's claim?

10.The owner of a mint-condition classic car wrote a letter to his trusted car mechanic offering to sell him the car for $45,000, if he bought it before April 15. The mechanic researched the current market value of the car online and discovered that comparable vehicles were being sold for $48,000. On April 1, he was just leaving his home to drive to the car owner's house to give him a check for $45,000 when he received a text from the owner stating that he had changed his mind and the car was no longer for sale. The mechanic drove to the owner's house anyway, where the car was parked out front with a "for sale" sign in its window. The mechanic knocked on the owner's door and, when he answered, tendered the $45,000 certified check and demanded the car. The owner refused.

a.Is there a contract?

b.Was it breached?