1. Sam orally agreed to sell Ramie some land for $500,000. Ramie paid Sam the $500,000; Sam gave Ramie the deed to the land. Ramie took possession of the land and began building a cabin on it. One month later, Sam tried to retake possession of the land by arguing that the contract for the sale was invalid because it was oral, not written. Sam sued Ramie to invalidate the contract and retake the land.
The court will likely conclude that Sam will:
a) Win; the sale exceeded $500 so the contract must be written to be valid.
b) Win; all land sales contracts must be written.
c) Lose; because the contract was fully executed Sam cannot rescind the contract.
d) Lose; because Ramie had begun building a cabin on the property, Sam cannot rescind the contract.
2. On Tuesday, Sam offered to sell his CD collection to Sandy for $100. Sandy replied, “I’m interested. I’ll think it over and let you know Thursday whether I want to buy the CDs.” On Wednesday, Sam agreed to sell the CDs to Jason, and Jason immediately gave Sam a letter that stated:
“Sam, I will buy your CD collection for $100. As we agreed, I will pay you on Friday when I pick up the CDs. Yours truly, Jason.”
Upon Sam’s receipt of this letter on Wednesday, what best describes Sam’s contract agreement(s)?
a) By forming an agreement with Jason, Sam breached his contract with Sandy because he did not effectively revoke his offer to Sandy.
b) Sam has formed contracts with both Jason and Sandy because Sam did not effectively revoke his offer to Sandy and created an enforceable written agreement with Jason.
c). Sam and Jason have formed a valid, enforceable contract; Sam’s offer to Sandy was properly revoked.
d) Sam effectively revoked his offer to Sandy, but has not formed an enforceable contract with Jason because Jason has not yet paid for the CD collection.
3. Mac and Rhamad signed a business contract with a clause that provides that if a dispute arises they must submit to binding arbitration to resolve the dispute. After they had been doing business together for a year, a dispute arose under the terms of the contract. Rather than submit to arbitration, Mac filed a lawsuit against Rhamad. Most likely the court will:
a) hear the lawsuit because Mac cannot be compelled to submit to arbitration; he is constitutionally entitled to a jury trial if he requests a trial.
b) conduct a bench trial, then order a remedy without compelling Mac to submit to arbitration or to a jury trial.
c) compel Mac to submit to arbitration to resolve the dispute.
d) hear the lawsuit in a trial, then compel Mac to submit to arbitration, if Mac is not satisfied with the trial decision.
4. Roxy, while driving through Wyoming to her home in Montana, accidentally lost control of her car and drove it through a window into a store owned by Colt. Colt sued Roxy in a Wyoming court for damages to his store.
Will the Wyoming court likely be able to exercise jurisdiction over Roxy?
a) no, because Wyoming has no in personam (personal) jurisdiction over Roxy, and cannot exercise its long arm statute only in cases involving automobile accidents.
b) no, because Wyoming has no in personam jurisdiction over Roxy, and cannot justify minimum contacts in this case.
c) yes, Wyoming can exercise in personam jurisdiction in this case because any state court has personal jurisdiction in every diversity of citizenship case.
d) yes, because Wyoming can assert in persona jurisdiction over Roxy under the minimum contacts test.
5. Assume a salesperson intentionally made one of the following statements – knowing that the statement was false – to a customer considering a purchase. Which statement could create liability for fraudulent misrepresentation if the customer made the purchase?
a) “In my opinion, this car is in flawless mechanical condition.”
b) “This crane will probably lift about 10,000 pounds.”
c) “This car is a real gem.”
d) “This is an original painting by the artist, Pablo Picasso.”
6. Ram was walking down the sidewalk by a construction project site in a downtown area. The project was owned and operated by Modern Construction, Inc. and was surrounded by orange plastic fencing typically used for construction projects. Ram stopped to watch a metal beam being lifted by a crane on the construction site. As the beam swung through the air, Ram thought it was going to fall and jumped forward quickly off the sidewalk and into the construction project property, falling into and smashing the orange plastic fencing. As Ram landed inside the construction project, the beam fell near Ram. The beam did not hit Ram but some rocks were thrown onto Ram as the beam fell, cutting his arm badly so that it required 35 stitches.
If Ram sues Model Construction for negligence, the likely result will be that Ram will:
a) Lose, because he assumed the risk as a trespasser on the construction site and trespassers can never recover damages.
b) Lose, because pedestrians are always contributorily negligent in such cases involving trespassing.
c) Win, because it is always foreseeable that a beam could fall on a rescuing pedestrian.
d) Win, if the beam fell because of Model Construction’s negligence.
7. Kim carelessly parked her car on a steep hill, leaving the car in neutral and failing to engage the parking brake. The car rolled down the hill and knocked down an electric line. The sparks from the broken line ignited a grass fire that spread to a barn several yards away. The roof of the burning barn fell and damaged a passing car owned by Ray. Can Ray likely recover damages from Kim under ordinary negligence?
a) Yes, because Kim was negligent in parking the car.
b) Yes, because Kim set in motion the chain of events that resulted in damage to Ray’s car, even though Kim did not directly hit the car.
c) No, because of the unforeseeable intervening force doctrine.
d) No, regardless of Kim’s negligence in parking the car as her negligence was not the proximate cause of the accident and harm that occurred to Ray.
8. Li sued Don in negligence. Li’s losses total $100,000. Under a contributory negligence system, if Li is found to be contributorily negligent for her own injuries, what damages will Li like recover from Don?
a) None.
b) $100,000.
c) $100,000 minus the percentage of fault (e.g., 20%, 60%, etc.) for which Li was responsible.
d) $100,000 minus the percentage of fault for which Li was responsible, so long as Li was not more than 50% responsible for the injuries.
9. Don promised to buy his girlfriend, Sophie, a new car so Sophie sold her old car. Don now refuses to buy Sophie the car. Sophie has a job that requires her to have a car to get to work. If Sophie sues Don to enforce the promise, the likely result is that the promise will:
a) Be enforced under promissory estoppel because Sophie reasonably relied on Don’s promise, to her detriment.
b) Not be enforced as Sophie was not unjustly enriched simply because she did not receive the car.
c) Be enforced because the car is a necessity for Sophie and all contracts for necessities are binding and enforceable for all parties even if contract formation is flawed.
d) Not be enforced as Don’s promise was a gift to Sophie; Sophie gave consideration, but Don did not.
10. X and Y agreed that X would sell Y his small business, including the land on which the business was situated, for $500,000. Both X and Y knew at the time the contract was formed that the business was actually worth $800,000. Is this a valid, enforceable contract?
a) Yes, provided the contract was in writing, in accordance with the Statute of Frauds and the parties freely consented.
b) Yes, provided the contract was in accordance with state statutory law that permits real estate sales for 40% or more below market value.
c) No, because $500,000 is not valid consideration for a business worth $800,000.
d) No, because X has no pre-existing legal duty to sell his business.