Sean Brosnan was a high school senior. He filled out his applications for colleg

Question

Sean Brosnan was a high school senior. He filled out his applications for college in September of 2015, including an application for early decision to Queens University. In December Brosnan received a thick packet from Queens, which included a glossy brochure entitled, “Welcome to Queens.” The first page of the brochure said, “Welcome to Queens!! We are delighted to have you as a member of the university community! We will be holding a place for you in the class of 2020 if you submit a $200 deposit by January 20. We would remind you that by your application for early decision, you indicated your commitment that if you were accepted to Queens, you would withdraw any applications that you have filed to other colleges and universities.” The brochure included an “Acceptance Coupon” providing that the signer was making a “definite commitment to attend Queens University during the coming academic year, to withdraw applications from any other colleges and universities, and to enclose a check for $200.” Brosnan signed the form and sent it with a $200 check to the Queens Admission Office. He then withdrew his applications from the six other universities to which he had applied.

A few days later he got a phone call from the Director of Admissions at Queens saying, “I’m sorry, we did not intend to give you the impression that you had been accepted. Your mailing should have been a deferral letter and should not have included the acceptance brochure. In any case, you had no business sending in a check—we didn’t even send you a letter of acceptance. We are returning your check.”

Please discuss the questions below using common law contract principles.

Answer the follwing

Topic 1 a. Has Queens University entered into a contract with Sean Brosnan? Give the legal arguments that can be made on each side of the issue.

Topic 1 b. Suppose that Queens discovered its error and contacted Brosnan prior to receiving Brosnan’s acceptance coupon.   Would this change your analysis? If so, how and why?

Explanation / Answer

Topic 1 a:

With respect to public law/the common law of the land, "the elements of a legally binding contract are an offer, acceptance, consideration, mutuality of obligation, and competency" (McKendrick, 2014). The offer of welcoming new scholars aimed at filling the class of 2020 was made by Queens University through the brochure issued by them that contained the required info regarding the offer. Sean Brosnan on seeing the same, acknowledged the proposal through an acknowledgement letter along with a cheque of $200. With the offer under consideration, Queens university would be obligated in accepting Sean as a stutdent of the class if he had submitted the acceptance by Jan 20, as per the offer stated. From the other point of view, Sean Brosnan, in order to the accepted by Queens University as a student of class 2020 needed to submit the acceptance letter by Jan 20. Therefore, since Sean Brosnan had done exactly the same as required by him, he had entered into a legal bond, or in other words, a legal contract with Queens University.

However, the University may beg to differ and acknowledge that the offer circulated had an error which they came across post they received the acceptance letter from Sean Brosnan. In such a situation, the contract would be considered invalid since this does not conform the element of mutuality of responsibility and thus the university would not be obligated to accept Sean’s application.

Topic 1 b:

Based on the fact that Brosnan had already accepted the offer before he was contacted by the university, the offer was a legally binding contract, and the university was obligated to accept his application. In case, the university contacted him before he submitted the acceptance coupon, the offer would not be legally binding since Brosnan had knowledge about the error before submitting the coupon.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse S
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.