Business Randy purchased the marina from Grant
QUESTION 1:
Grant has operated a marina on Oneida Lake for several years. The marina sells boats and provides dock space and winter boat storage to its customers. On August 1, 2010, Randy purchased the marina from Grant. As part of the sale, Randy took over all of the existing contracts Grant had for the storage and docking of boats. Jay had a contract with Grant to store his boat at the marina over the winter and to rent a dock space at the marina during the boating season. The contract was due to expire on March 31, 2011. When Jay went to the marina on October 1, 2010 to arrange to have his boat removed from the water and placed into storage for the winter, he learned that the marina had been sold. Randy told him that he would be willing to renew Jay’s contract for dock space and storage for the period of April 1, 2011 through March 31, 2012, at the same price he had paid in 2010, if Jay would agree immediately. Jay orally agreed.
Thereafter, on March 1, 2011, Jay notified Randy that he was moving his boat to another marina and had arranged to have his boat towed to the new marina. Randy demanded that Jay pay him for the dock space and storage for 2011-2012, claiming that he and Jay had an enforceable contract. Jay refused to pay. Discuss whether Grant and Jay have an enforceable contract.
QUESTION 2:
Bob was a student at Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School (School) in Big City. The final requirement for Bob to graduate from the School as a pastry chef was to bake a five layer cake. Bob considered this task too trivial for his considerable culinary talents, and instead of working on the cake, he spent all of his time with his new girlfriend, Cindy, a 17 year old who lived independently from her parents. Bob’s grandfather Joe, who had made many prior cash gifts to Bob while he was attending the School, very much wanted Bob to follow in his footsteps as a chef. Joe told him: “If you bake a cake to fulfill your requirement to graduate from the School, I will
pay you $20,000.”
Cindy solely supported herself by working as a barista at a Big City coffee house located far away from her apartment. Cindy told Bob that she was in danger of losing her job at the coffee house and ultimately her apartment because Big City Transit Authority had announced that it would be eliminating the bus route that Cindy used to get to the coffee house due to state budget cuts. Bob asked Joe to help Cindy, and Joe agreed to sell a car to Cindy for $3,000. The written agreement dated January 15, 2012, provided that Cindy would pay $100 to Joe upon signing the agreement and $100 each month until the balance was paid.
On February 1, 2012, Cindy turned 18 years of age. Six months later, Cindy stopped making payments and returned the car to Joe, saying that she could no longer afford the high cost of gasoline, parking fees and insurance. Bob baked the cake, graduated from the School and obtained a high-paying position as a pastry chef at an elite Big City restaurant. When Bob requested payment of the $20,000, Joe refused, stating, “I was wiped out by my crooked investment advisor. Besides, your cake is not worth $20,000 to me. Baking that cake was for your own good. Look at the job that it got you!” Was an enforceable contract created
between Bob and Joe?
Joe sued Cindy for breach of contract for the remaining monies owed by Cindy on the agreement for the sale of the car. What defense should Cindy raise to the breach of contract suit, and what arguments should Joe make in opposition to this defense?