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Hoping to gain a position on a campaign staff, an unemployed law student sent a detailed outline of a campaign strategy to a candidate for Congress. The candidate turned the materials over to his campaign manager, who advised the candidate to adopt some of them in his commercials. The candidate wrote the law student, thanking him for his interest in the campaign and stating that although he had a campaign staff and strategy in place, some of the ideas were good and he adopted them. He added, “To say ‘thanks’ to a future constituent, I’d like to offer to pay you for your expenses in developing the materials you sent me. Send the bill to my campaign headquarters.” Nevertheless, the candidate lost the election. One week after election day, the law student’s bill for $1,500 arrived at the candidate’s campaign headquarters. Campaign debts were high, and the candidate told his campaign manager not to pay the bill. The law student filed suit against the candidate to obtain payment of the bill plus an additional $10,000 for his ideas. What additional fact, if true, would most strengthen the candidate’s defense against the law student’s suit?

Before putting her home up for sale, a homeowner painted the living room ceiling to conceal major water damage caused by a leaking roof that had not yet been repaired. On the first day the home was offered for sale, the homeowner gave a buyer a personal tour. The homeowner made no statements at all regarding the water damage or the roof. Without discovering the water damage or the leaking roof and without consulting a lawyer, the buyer immediately agreed in writing to buy the home for $200,000. Before the closing date, the buyer discovered the water damage and the leaking roof. The cost of repair was estimated at $22,000. The buyer has refused to go through with the purchase. If the homeowner sues the buyer for breach of contract, is the homeowner likely to prevail?

The mother of a son and a daughter was dying. The daughter visited her mother in a hospice facility and said, “You know that I have always been the good child, and my brother has always been the bad child. Even so, you have left your property in the will to us fifty-fifty. But it would be really nice if you would sell me the family home for $100,000.” “I don’t know,” said the mother. “It is worth a lot more than that-at least $250,000.” “That is true,” said the daughter. “But I have always been good and visited you, and my brother has never visited you, so that ought to be worth something. And besides, if you won’t sell me the house for that price, maybe I won’t visit you anymore, either.” “Oh, I wouldn’t want that,” said the mother, and she signed a contract selling the house to her daughter for $100,000. Shortly thereafter, the mother died. When her son found out that the house had been sold and was not part of his mother’s estate, he sued to have the contract avoided on behalf of the mother. On what ground would the contract most likely be avoided?

A patient owed a physician $25,000 for professional services. The physician orally assigned this claim to her adult daughter as a wedding gift. Shortly thereafter, the physician suffered substantial losses in the stock market, and assigned by a signed writing the same claim to her stockbroker in partial satisfaction of previous financial advances legally made by the broker to the physician in the physician’s previous stock-market transactions. Without knowledge of either assignment, the patient subsequently paid the physician the $25,000 then due, which the physician promptly lost at a horse track, although she remains solvent. Assuming that Article 9 of the UCC does not apply to either of the assignments in this situation, which of the following is a correct statement of the parties’ rights and liabilities?

An insurance company issued an insurance policy to a homeowner. The policy failed to contain certain coverage terms required by a state insurance statute. When the homeowner suffered a loss due to a theft that was within the policy’s terms, the insurance company refused to pay, claiming that the contract was unenforceable because it violated the statute. Will the homeowner succeed in an action against the insurance company to recover for the loss?

On June 1, a general contractor and a subcontractor entered into a contract under which the subcontractor agreed to deliver all of the steel joists that the general contractor required in the construction of a hospital building. The contract provided that delivery of the steel joists would begin on September 1. Although the general contractor had no reason to doubt the subcontractor’s ability to perform, the general contractor wanted to be sure that the subcontractor was on track for delivery in September. He therefore wrote a letter on July 1 to the subcontractor demanding that the subcontractor provide assurance of its ability to meet the September 1 deadline. The subcontractor refused to provide such assurance. The general contractor then immediately obtained the steel joists from another supplier. If the subcontractor sues the general contractor for breach of contract, is the subcontractor likely to prevail?

A lawn service company agreed in writing to purchase from a supplier all of its requirements for lawn care products during the next calendar year. In the writing, the supplier agreed to fulfill those requirements and to give the company a 10% discount off its published prices, but it reserved the right to increase the published prices during the year. After the parties had performed under the agreement for three months, the supplier notified the company that it would no longer give the company the 10% discount off the published prices. Does the company have a viable claim against the supplier for breach of contract?

On March 1, an excavator entered into a contract with a contractor to perform excavation work on a large project. The contract expressly required that the excavator begin work on June 1 to enable other subcontractors to install utilities. On May 15, the excavator requested a 30-day delay in the start date for the excavation work because he was seriously behind schedule on another project. When the contractor refused to grant the delay, the excavator stated that he would try to begin the work for the contractor on June 1. Does the contractor have valid legal grounds to cancel the contract with the excavator and hire a replacement?

At the start of this past baseball season, a wholesale baseball distributor and a baseball team entered into a written agreement, whereby the distributor agreed to supply baseballs, meeting league specifications, to the team at a price of $20 per dozen, in such quantities as the team would order from time-to-time. The distributor agreed to deliver the balls to the team’s ballpark within 10 days of each order, payment to be cash on delivery. At first, the team used the balls left over from the previous season and ordered nothing. Then on April 19, the team placed a written order with the distributor for 50 dozen baseballs, at $20 per dozen, to be delivered on May 1. Since the team knew it would need an additional 50 dozen balls by the last two weeks in May, the team enclosed with the order a letter stating, “We also order an additional 50 dozen balls, if we can buy them for $18 per dozen.” What is the state of the contractual relationship between the parties at the time the baseball distributor received the April 19 communication from the team?

Amelia, an architect, entered into a contract with the city of Centersville for Amelia to design a hockey rink to accommodate a professional hockey team that was moving to Centersville.  A few weeks after the contract was formed, the professional hockey team decided not to move to Centersville. Mitchell, the mayor of Centersville, contacted many other professional hockey teams, but none wanted to move to Centersville. Mitchell met with a large number community members to determine if there would be any other use for the hockey rink once it was built if the city did not have a professional hockey team. No one in the community demonstrated the need for or desire to use an ice rink.  Can Centersville discharge its contract with Amelia?