1. Without a signed writing, Abe hired Carol to engineer and build for him a custom catamaran, complete with computerized navigation system. Carol began work on January 1, 1999. After she had expended substantial effort, she learned that Abe intended to hire a computer specialist to engineer the navigation system. Carol angrily threatened to walk away from the project unless Abe left the navigation system in her hands. She furthermore demanded that Abe increase her fee from the $300,000 that they had originally agreed upon to $400,000. The project was taking more work than they had expected, she explained. Abe reluctantly agreed to Carol's demands.

When Carol had delivered the completed boat in the spring of 2000, however, Abe refused to pay her more than $300,000. Carol cashed Abe's check because she sorely needed the money and brought suit for breach of contract for the remaining $100,000 that she felt Abe owed her. Please discuss Carol's rights and remedies.

1. Carol, whose plight the question above describes, hired Ben to represent her in her contract suit against Abe. Pursuant to Ben's written agreement to provide legal services to Carol, he was to receive a fixed fee of $5,000 plus 50% of any amount recovered in excess of $100,000. Ben had performed substantial work on the case, and incurred some $200 worth of photocopying costs, before Carol discharged him without cause. Ben estimates that, based on his hourly rate, he had done about $12,000 worth of work on the case. Carol had paid him nothing.

Carol replaced Ben with Debra, who billed $1,300 worth of work on the case and recovered $120,000 in settlement from Abe. Upon hearing of Debra's success, Ben got so upset that he missed a day of work--a day when Elmer, an important client, happened to call with an emergency problem. Because Ben was not available, Elmer paid a competing law firm $30,000 to resolve his problem. The result so pleased Elmer that he decided to transfer all of his legal business from Ben to the competing firm, a loss that Ben estimates at $580,000.

Ben sues Carol for breach of contract. Please discuss his rights and remedies.