BUNSS 4-1

• Show Me My Money (Reisenfeld & Company v. The Network Group Inc., p. 313)

Why does the court see this case as involving a quasi-contract as opposed to an actual contract? What other case law does the court rely on in finding precedent/support for compensating Reisenfeld? Does this decision appear to follow the golden rule guideline set forth in Chapter 2 (pp. 27 and 28)? Describe another example of an implied-in-fact or quasi-contract that you have experienced or is mentioned in the text.

     Note:  please read all the information correctly before you begin the assignment I have also copy and paste pages 27 and 28 that you would need to complete the assignment.

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VALID, VOID, VOIDABLE, AND UNENFORCEABLE CONTRACTS

What everyone hopes to enter into, of course, is a validA term applied to a contract that includes all four elements of a contract—agreement (offer and acceptance), consideration, contractual capacity, and legal object—and thus is enforceable. contract, one that contains all the legal elements set forth in the beginning of this chapter. As a general rule, a valid contract is one that will be enforced. However, sometimes a contract may be valid yet unenforceableA term applied to a contract that, because of a law, cannot be enforced by the courts. when a law prohibits the courts from enforcing it. The statute of frauds (Chapter 18) requires that certain contracts must be evidenced by a writing before they can be enforced. Similarly, the statute of limitations mandates that an action for breach of contract must be brought within a set period of time, thereby limiting enforceability.

   A voidA term applied to a contract that is not valid because its object is illegal or it has a defect that is so serious that it is not a contract. contract is in effect not a contract at all. Either its object is illegal or it has some defect so serious that it is not a contract. If you entered into a contract with an assassin to kill your business law professor, that contract would be void because it is obviously illegal to carry out its terms.

   A contract is voidableA term applied to a contract that one or both parties have the ability to either withdraw from or enforce. if one or both parties has the ability to either withdraw from the contract or enforce it. If the parties discover the contract is voidable after one or both have partially performed, and one party chooses to have the contract terminated, both parties must return anything they had already exchanged under the agreement so that they will be restored to the condition they were in at the time they entered into it.

   Certain types of errors in the formation of a contract can make it voidable. Typically, the person who can void the contract is the person the court is attempting to protect, or the party the court believes might be taken advantage of by the other. For example, contracts by minors are usually voidable by the minor (Chapter 16). Contracts entered into as a result of fraud, duress, or undue influence, as described in Chapter 17, may be voided by the innocent party. In the opening scenario, Morrow attempted to prove that the Dispute Resolution Program was a voidable contract because it did not include mutual promises, could be changed at any time without approval, and lacked genuine assent from the employees.

EXECUTED VERSUS EXECUTORY CONTRACTS

Once all the terms of the contract have been fully performed, the contract has been executedA term applied to a contract whose terms have all been fully performed.. As long as some of the terms have not yet been performed, the contract is executoryA term applied to a contract whose terms have not all been fully performed.. If Randolph hires Carmine to paint his garage on Saturday for $800, with $200 paid as a down payment and the balance due on completion of the job, the contract becomes executory as soon as they reach agreement. When Randolph makes the down payment and Carmine's work is half complete, it is still executory. Once the painting has been finished and the final payment made, the contract is an executed contract. In the opening scenario, Hallmark assumed that any employee who remained at the company had executed the contract.

FORMAL VERSUS INFORMAL CONTRACTS

Contracts can be formal or informal. Formal contractsA contract that must have a special form or must be created in a specific manner. have a special form or must be created in a specific manner. The Restatement (Second) of Contracts identifies the following four types of formal contracts: (1) contracts under seal, (2) recognizances, (3) letters of credit, and (4) negotiable instruments.

   When people hear the term formal contract, what often comes to mind is a contract under seal, named in the days when contracts were sealed with a piece of soft wax into which an impression was made. Today, sealed contracts may still be sealed with wax or some other soft substance, but they are more likely to be simply identified with the word seal or the letters L.S. (an abbreviation for locus sigilli, which means “the place for the seal”) at the end. Preprinted contract forms with a printed seal can be purchased today, and parties using them are presumed, without evidence to the contrary, to be adopting the seal for the contract.

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