Can Jones Sue Smith's Unilateral Contract

Unilateral contracts involve an action undertaken by one person or group alone. In contract law, unilateral contracts allow only one person to make a promise or agreement. Unilateral contractts are purely one sided. They are made without the offeror’s having any idea whether they will ever be taken up and accepted, and thereby be transformed into a contract.

When majority of the people think about the contracts, bilateral agreements come to their mind. As in its most basic form, as bilateral contract is an agreement at least between two people or more groups. Most personal and business contracts would fall into this category. Whereas the simplest way to understand unilateral business contract is by analyzing the word 'unilateral.' In its general terms, as unilateral contracts will involve an action undertaken by either one person or by any group alone. However in contract law, unilateral contracts will allow only one person to make an agreement or promise.

Both parties must be bound.” Both parties must be required to perform under the contract, “in other words, it must be enforceable originally, or not at all.” Sayres v. Wheatland Group, L.L.C., 79 Va. Cir. 504 (Va. Cir. Ct. 2009). As stated by The Circuit Court of Fairfax County, Virginia "if it appears that one party was never bound on its part to do the acts which form the consideration for the promise of the other, there is a lack of mutuality of obligation and the other party is not bound." Busman v. Beeren & Barry Invs., LLC, 69 Va. Cir. 375 (Va. Cir. Ct. 2005).

If an unforeseen and/or uncontrollable event happens to either party, they may have the option to back out of the contract, for a negotiated period of time, for repairs or termination of the contract, if necessary. Conditions such as but not limited, but not limited to, weather conditions, store, warehouse, or personal property damage. The contract will be kept in force, until canceled or terminated by agreed upon terms by all parties.

Contract law has set out to provide a healthy trade environment. Contracts are promises enforced by the law, with the support of something of value that has a legal purpose. It is an agreement between parties, formed by the elements: offer and acceptance, with all parties having the capacity to perform obligations enforceable by law. There are instances where the enforcement of a contract would bring about gains or losses to society and commerce.

The first element of a contract is the agreement, which is defined as including an offer and acceptance of the offer. The offer must include an intention to be bound by the agreement, reasonable terms, and communication (Kubasek, 2012p. 324). In the verbal discussion between Sam and the store manager, there appears to be an attempt to form a bilateral contract because the store has promised exclusivity to the dog barking device, and Sam has offered to deliver 1,000 units. The verbal interaction shows an intention and communication of agreement to the contract. However, the terms are not fully defined in this agreement. Specifically, the

Facts: Antoine Jones (defendant), a nightclub owner in the District of Columbia was suspected for drug trafficking by the FBI and Metropolitan Police Department task force. As a joint task-force investigation, the FBI applied for a warrant that authorized the use of an electronic tacking device on the Jeep Grand Cherokee registered to Jones’s wife. The United States District Court for the District of Columbia issued the warrant, in which authorized an installation of the device on Jones’s vehicle within in the District of Columbia and and within 10 days of the issuance of the warrant. However, the government did not install the device on the undercarriage of Jones’s vehicle until the eleventh day

a."If the court as a matter of law finds the contract or any clause of the contract to have been unconscionable at the time it was made the court may refuse to enforce the contract or it may enforce the remainder of the contract without the unconscionable clause, or it may so limit the application of any unconscionable clause as to avoid any unconscionable result" (What Is the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC)? n.a).

Non-contractual promise or representation is a promise or representation made during contractual negotiations that was not intended to be a term of the contract and it is not enforceable under contract law but is enforceable under promissory estoppel which is a principle that a promise will be legally enforceable even if consideration for the promise was not provided by the promise so long as some requirements are satisfied (James, 2014, p301)

A contract in its essence according to Davitt is “a union of two or more persons, originating in their mutual promises enforceable in law, for the reordering of their relations of title, duty and claim regarding something to be done or not to be done.” Id. at 273. The tricky part concerns what a mutual promise enforceable in law entails. As stated above, there are many difference schools of thought about what fills in the gaps of promises and what is enforceable by law.

If I were that manager’s supervisor, I would not agree to refuse to provide the year’s supply of the drug to the patients free of charge. Because this was a unilateral contract – a promise in exchange for an act. In this case HEM would provide Ampligen for a full year at no charge if patients completed the clinical trial. It is worth mentioning that unilateral contract is different from bilateral contract that a promise given in exchange for another promise. Therefore, patients were free to withdraw from the trial at any time while the contract is still binding.

Contractual agreements are supposed to be consensual, and freely entered into by the parties involved. Therefore, ‘before a court enforces a relationship as a contract, the courts must have a reasonably certain basis in fact to justify binding the parties to each other.’ (St. John’s Law Scholarship Repository, no date). Resolution of whether a contract was intended to be legally binding is not determined by what the parties themselves thought or intended. Rather, a more objective stance is taken by the courts. This is known as the objective theory of contract, and essentially enables ‘the courts to look at external evidence (what the parties said and did at the time)’ (Poole, 2006, p. 34), as to objectively indicate the parties’ intentions

In King’s Norton Metal Co v Edridge, Merret & Co Ltd, it was held that there was a contract between King’s Norton and Wallis, for the simple reason that there was no such entity called Hallam & Co, and hence good title passed from King’s Norton to the rogue, and later to the defendant; and thus the defendants were therefore not liable to pay back the goods or its value to King’s Norton. Therefore the effect of unilateral mistake is that it will make a contract void or voidable, and hence to identify which one of the two parties has the right to the title of the goods.

Turner, the terms “subject to contract” actually is a secure way to protect both of their benefit. For Mrs Turner, this means that she can pull out of the deal anytime if, for example, a survey shows up a defect or she might found another favorable property – though she can pull out for any reason. For the seller of second property, it would have allowed them to pulls out of a deal if they have had a higher offer.

Before unilateral contracts come into place, contract law is about a promise for a promise. Cases such as Carlill v Carbonic Smoke Ball Co. have shown how the contract law has adapted to accommodate this form of contract. Judges seek to identify consideration and acceptance in unilateral contracts whilst managing to achieve a balance between protecting reasonable expectation of an honest man and retaining respect for the sanctity of contract.