Danny Davidson sold a single family home to Paul and Priscilla Peterson. A long-term relationship between Danny and Paul is the basis for not including a written agreement. The simple contract was made orally and only included the legal object and the amount to be paid. Danny did not disclose a dispute with his neighbor over boundary lines or include information about a soil subsidence in the front yard he claims not to have known about.
Contract Elements
Four elements are necessary for a contract to exist. According to Kubasek et al., (2012) “These elements are the agreement, the consideration, contractual capacity, and a legal object,” (p. 304). The agreement consists of an offer from one party and an acceptance from another. The agreement was to exchange the single-family home for $250,000. The scenario is unclear as to whether Danny or Paul made the initial offer. Either Danny offered to sell the home for $250,000 or Paul offered to buy the home for $250,000. The consideration is the bargained for exchange. The consideration in this scenario is Danny receiving the $250,000 and the Petersons receiving the house. Each party has contractual capacity as far as is stated in the scenario. Neither party was incapacitated, inebriated, or unable to make decisions due to mental or age restrictions. The legal object in the scenario is the house in exchange for the money. It is legal to sell a house for money so each of the elements of a contract is present even if a written contract was not present. This scenario may be considered a simple contract because it did not fulfill the requirements of the formal contract.
Breach, Defenses, and Remedies
Priscilla convinced Paul to sue Danny for breach of contract. The upgraded bathroom and landscaping were compromised because of the soil subsidence in the front yard. The landscaping cost $15,000 and the bathroom upgrades cost $50,000. Danny claims he had no knowledge of the soil subsidence issue. Priscilla