Exam 11: Conduct Invalidating Assent

If an agreement is not voluntary and knowing, it will be either void or voidable.

A party to a contract may be entitled to relief even if he is contributorily negligent in relying on a fraudulent misrepresentation.

Physical compulsion and improper threats are the two basic types of duress.

Generally, whether or not the parties deal at arm's length does not affect whether silence alone amounts to fraud.

The remedies of damages and rescission are available for:

The difference between fraud and misrepresentation is that fraud involves malice while nonfraudulent misrepresentation is always innocent.

Kyle wants to buy a six-passenger car.The salesperson tells him that the two-seat sports car Kyle sees on the car lot would be just perfect for six people.Kyle test drives the car and then buys it.In this case:

For a misrepresentation to be material, it must be likely to induce a reasonable person to manifest assent or the maker must know that it would be likely to induce the recipient to do so.

For a misrepresentation to be actionable as fraud in the inducement, it must be a misrepresentation of an opinion.

The most uncommon type of duress involves the use of physical compulsion.

Historically, courts held that representations of law were statements of fact, but the present trend is to recognize that they have only the effect of statements of opinion.