John operates a motorcycle repair shop from his home but finds that his business

Question

John operates a motorcycle repair shop from his home but finds that his business is limited by the small size of his garage. Driving by a neighbor’s property, he notices a for-sale sign on a large metal-sided garage. John contacts the neighbour and offers to buy the building, hoping it can be dismantled and moved to his own property. The neighbour accepts John’s payment and makes a generous offer in return: if John will help him dismantle the garage, which will take a substantial amount of time, he will help John reassemble it after it has been transported to John’s property. They agree to have the entire job completed within two weeks. John spends every day for a week working with his neighbour to disassemble the building. In his rush to acquire a larger workspace he turns down several lucrative repair jobs. Once the disassembled building has been moved to John’s property, however, the neighbour refuses to help John reassemble it as he originally promised.

(a) Are the basic elements of contract present in the neighbor’s promise to help John reassemble the garage? Why or why not? (16 marks)                      

(b) Suppose that the neighbour starts to help John but then realises that, because of the layout of John’s property, putting the building back together will take much more work than dismantling it took. Under which principle of the law of contracts might the neighbour be allowed to ask for additional compensation (4 marks) and would he be likely to succeed, explaining why/why not, if the matter had to be decided by a court (8 marks)?

(c) What if John’s neighbour made his promise to help reassemble the garage at the time he and John were moving it to John’s property, saying “Since you helped me take it down, I will help you put it back up.” Would John be able to enforce this promise? Why or why not? (10 marks)

(d) Under what doctrine might John seek to recover the profits he lost when he turned down repair jobs for one week, evaluating whether he would be likely to succeed, explaining why/why not, if the matter had to be decided by a court? (12 marks)   

Explanation / Answer

The following will guide you to structure your answer

a. Yes there is a contract that exists between them as the elements of the contract are all present, verbal agreement, two parties and the consideration.

b.Quantum meruit is the section of the contract law that states that the person is entitled to 'reasonable value of services'. But in a court of law it might not stand for this case as he has already accepted a substantial compensation and the agreed terms were that he would help rebuild the structure for john.

c. Yes John would be able to enforce this promise as it was reiterated by the neighbor verbally as well as the neighbor has recieved said consideration for the same.

d. Lucrum Cessans or lost profits is the doctrine. But this is very comparitively likely in many cases . In this case though John willingly let go of the other jobs so as to get the metal shed shifted and so he is not entitled to any lost profits.

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