Business Law Touchstone

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Metropolitan Community College, Omaha *

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Feb 20, 2024

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docx

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Business Law Touchstone 2: Did Jim and Laura Buy a Car? Name: Michaela Kreitler Date: 11.2 PART 1: Contract Definition Task: For a contract to be legally binding it would require a few things. The first being an agreement between the two parties, the contract would need to have mutual assent, valid offer and acceptance, adequate consideration, capacity and legality. Requirements: ● Identify the elements of a legal contract. ● Define each element. ● Provide an example for each element. ● Include reference citations as appropriate. Inspiration: When writing your response, think about the understanding of contract law ● Have you defined the elements of a legal contract? ● Have you used examples from the scenario to illustrate these elements? Identify and define elements of a legal contract below: The elements for a for a contract to be legally binding it would require a few things. The first being an agreement between the two parties. The contract would need to have mutual assent, a valid offer and acceptance, adequate consideration, capacity and legality. Mutual assent can be described best as a decision made by both parties, but not under duress or being coerced/forced; the example that comes to my mind for this is when someone agrees to buy another person’s home. Both parties are content, maybe even happy with the deal and they are both entering into a legally binding contract where they are each getting something out of the deal. Going with the theme of selling/buying a home the next element for a legally binding contract is the valid offer and acceptance; anyone that has bought a home knows that when you make an offer, even if you make 50 offers, you have to sign all of them so the buyer will sign and then the seller will also sign. That offer is an agreement, and it is in fact legally binding. Adequate consideration is the next element, and typically in real estate this is something that is easier to justify on a legal contract but on another scenario could be a bit harder. This basically means that the contract makes sense for both parties. A legal contract typically wouldn’t say that the seller will be getting $1,000 for the sell of their home to the buyer. It would be something more like $250,000 on a home that is around that price in Market Value. And the final element is capacity/legality, which basically means that whoever is entering into this agreement has the mental capacity to do so, as well as the legal capacity. In a sitution of selling a home, it could be Business Law Template 1

the adult child has Power of Attorney, and as long as they have that they can speak for the parents. In the scenario of Jim and Laura buying a car, I don’t believe that they have what it takes for a legal contract for a couple of reasons. The first element is an agreement between two parties. I do believe there was an agreement to hold the vehicle they were looking at and considering; but there was never a contract that they were for sure going to purchase the car. There was also nothing stating that their $100 was non-refundable. I would have understood if they signed something stating that it was non-refundable, then it would be hard to challenge but that was not the case and in fact the salesman was dishonest and stated that it would be refunded. This so-called contract doesn’t have mutual assent for both the dealership and the couple. It really only looks out for the dealership and salesman in my opinion. I also don’t feel that this contract has a valid offer and acceptance. Laura and Jim didn’t agree to anything but considering the vehicle; they did not enter into any contract with the dealership and were under the impression the deposit was simply holding the car and was refundable. I also don’t feel there was adequate consideration on this contract, it wasn’t a good deal for Jim and Laura; they again thought the money was refundable. I do think that the capacity/legal element has been met as Jim and Laura could enter into this contract and so can the salesman on behalf of the dealership; but again, no paperwork was signed and there is really nothing legally binding that I can see. Business Law Template 2

PART 2: Case Support Task: Determine the facts from the scenario that you will use to support your decision on whether or not Jim and Laura entered a contract with Stan Salesman for the purchase of the automobile. Requirements: ● Identify relevant facts from the scenario. ● Write a clear explanation of how these facts will support your decision. ● Include reference citations as appropriate. Inspiration: When writing your response, think about how the facts in this case study could support a judgment made. ● Have you defined relevant facts from the scenario that would support a case? ● Have you discussed why these facts from the scenario relate to each element of a contract from Part 1? Determine and discuss the facts from the scenario below: I do not believe that Jim and Laura entered into a legally binding and enforceable contract with Stan the Salesman. I believe that Stan the Salesman gave misinformation about the deposit being refundable, and then changed that on them later on when they decided not to purchase the vehicle. They did not sign anything but were also not provided a receipt and now Stan is acting like that money is just gone and there is nothing he can do about it. I would strongly encourage talking to the GM of the dealership to get their money back. A lot of GMs in the dealerships wouldn’t want these bad faith dealings, especially this day in age with social media and online reviews. As I explained in section 1, I don’t believe that they have what it takes for a legal contract for a couple of reasons. The first element is an agreement between two parties. I do believe there was an agreement to hold the vehicle they were looking at and considering; but there was never a contract that they were for sure going to purchase the car. There was also nothing stating that their $100 was non-refundable. I would have understood if they signed something stating that it was non-refundable, then it would be hard to challenge but that was not the case and in fact the salesman was dishonest and stated that it would be refunded. This so-called contract doesn’t have mutual assent for both the dealership and the couple. It really only looks out for the dealership and salesman in my opinion. I also don’t feel that this contract has a valid offer and acceptance. Laura and Jim didn’t agree to anything but considering the vehicle; they did not enter into any contract with the dealership and were under the impression the deposit was simply holding the car and was refundable. I also don’t feel there was adequate consideration on this contract, it wasn’t a good deal for Jim and Laura; they again thought the money was refundable. I do think that the capacity/legal element has been met as Jim and Laura could enter into this contract and so can the salesman on behalf of the dealership; but again, no paperwork was signed and there is really nothing legally binding that I can see. Business Law Template 3

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