Exam 16: Performance and Discharge

Dana hires Paris to paint a portrait of her poodle,"Mack." The painting is to be done to Dana's personal satisfaction.Upon completion of the painting,which of the following will be true?

Identify four factors courts consider in deciding the validity of commercial impracticability and frustration of purpose claims.

Assume that Jessie and Lester have formed a contract whereby Jessie agrees to deliver 10,000 dozen "Grade A Large Eggs" to be shipped in recycled paper cartons.A shortage of paper makes paper cartons much more expensive,so Jessie uses styrofoam cartons and ships the eggs.Lester is entitled to cancel the contract based on this deviation of terms in the contract.

Harry agreed to pay $100 to rent a rooftop spot in downtown Seattle to watch the New Year's Eve festivities.The festivities were unexpectedly canceled because of concern over a terrorist attack.Harry is:

Irving is shopping at the local Computers R Us store and agrees to buy a computer for his home "on the condition of personal satisfaction." If Irving takes the computer back to the store stating that he doesn't like the computer,then the seller must accept the return of the computer and terminate the contract.

In January 2008,Professor Noe entered into a contract with State University.She agreed to teach full time during the 2008-2009 academic year.Professor Noe died on May 31,2008.Her estate:

Dodger bought an insurance contract from Liberty Farm Co.The policy contained a clause stating that all claims for losses had to be reported within 45 days after the date of the loss or the claim would be barred.Time is stated to be of the essence.Dodger sustained a covered farm loss,but did not report it to Liberty Farm until 50 days later.Liberty Farm denied coverage for the claim.If Dodger sues,who wins?

Ron operates a garbage pickup business.He contracts to pick up garbage from an apartment complex for the next 52 weeks at a price of $150 per week.Unexpectedly,the landfill center where Ron takes the garbage to dispose of it,files for bankruptcy.As a result,Ron must travel an additional 100 miles to the nearest landfill center,turning Ron's expected profit into a loss of $40 per week.Ron's best argument in support of his petition to be discharged from the contract is:

Southern Fuels Co.and Langham-Hill Petroleum,Inc.are both in the business of buying and selling large quantities of petroleum products.In October,the parties entered into a fixed price contract wherein Southern agreed to purchase 4.2 million gallons of No.2 fuel oil at a specified price per gallon to be delivered in four monthly installments.The contract included a force majeure clause.The first three monthly shipments of oil were purchased by Southern as agreed.In January of the next year,the price of oil in the world market collapsed as a result of Saudi Arabian attempts to regain its share of the world oil market.Southern refused to purchase the last shipment under the contract.Southern informed Langham-Hill that because the drop in world oil prices was caused by Saudi Arabians who were "outside Southern's control" that it was invoking the force majeure clause.Langham-Hill sued for damages in the amount of $306,075.What is a force majeure clause? Southern's basic argument is that it can now buy oil at a substantially lower price.Will Southern succeed on this basis?

Al contracted to sell his house to Bev.Subsequently,they both changed their minds and agreed to cancel the contract.The contract between Al and Bev is discharged by:

Sea Rovers,Inc.contracted to sell 1,000 pounds of shrimp to the Seafood Shack with delivery on June 1.On May 1 Sea Rovers advised the Seafood Shack that it would not be able to deliver the shrimp.The Seafood Shack:

In January,All Seasons,Inc.ordered $4000 of fireworks from Kaboom Ltd.with delivery to be on or before June 1.On April 15,Kaboom notifies All Seasons that it will not be able to perform the contract as agreed.How will the law characterize Kaboom's actions? Does All Seasons have to wait until June 1 before buying fireworks from another supplier?

If a condition does not occur:

Jackie hires Charles to lay new carpet in her bedroom.Charles does such a bad job,that the only way to fix the carpet is to start over and relay the carpet.Which of the following best describes this situation?

The Grand Performance Hall is in the process of remodeling and is scheduled to open for business after being closed for 50 years.As part of the remodeling,it is installing a new sound system.The sound system is to be installed by Sound Systems,Inc.on or before April 10.Opening night of the hall is May 1.The contract states that "time is of the essence" because of the opening-night deadline.Sound Systems has some financial difficulties and doesn't deliver the system until April 20.Grand Hall refuses to accept it,and Sound Systems sues.What result?

Which of the following events would probably excuse performance of a contract based on commercial impracticability?

What does the term "substantial performance" mean? What factors are generally considered when determining whether one of the parties has substantially performed?

The legal right to sue for a breach of contract is subject to a statute of limitations.

A wholesaler of coffee notifies a retailer that it cannot fulfill its contractual obligation to deliver 1,000 pounds of coffee at the agreed upon price of $2.00 per pound next month because of recent price increases in coffee.The retailer may treat the wholesaler as having breached the contract and sue for damages even though the wholesaler's performance is not due until next month.

In negotiating the purchase of a vehicle,the sales representative told Karla,"I guarantee that you will be personally satisfied with this car." The guarantee was written on the contract when Karla purchased the car.If a controversy arises over Karla's satisfaction,the court will apply a subjective standard,which means Karla's judgment must be reasonable.