Suzy Bartles Enters into an Oral Contract to Purchase a Tract

Essay

Suzy Bartles enters into an oral contract to purchase a tract of land from Bill Hermes. The land is considered worthless, but Bartles feels that she has discovered a possible usage that would drastically increase the value of the land. To assure herself of the potential value of the land, Bartles orally hires an attorney to investigate the title and records associated with the land in question. Before gaining any information from her attorney, Bartles orally contracts with a builder to construct a huge building on the site. Because of the size of the project, a completion time is difficult to predict. Bartles now discovers that the land is indeed useless, a fact that she obtains through information from her attorney.
Bartles now refuses to honor her contracts with Hermes, her attorney, and the builder. Must Bartles honor her contractual agreements?