Johnny, a neighbor who is not a merchant under the Uniform Commercial Code, offe
ID: 429643 • Letter: J
Question
Johnny, a neighbor who is not a merchant under the Uniform Commercial Code, offers to buy a car from Mark for $30,000. Mark asks Johnny for some time to think about it. Johnny says sure. He writes on a piece of paper that he will keep the offer open for two weeks.
A week later Johnny sees another car he would rather buy. He purchases that, and then he tells Mark that he is revoking his offer.
Two days after that Mark said: “I’m sorry Johnny you made an offer in writing to buy my car. I’m going to hold you to that.”
Johnny replied: “Sorry I cannot do that. But I will promise to pay you $10,000 for the help you gave me last year around the house.” Somewhat mollified Mark accepts.
A week later and Johnny decided to renege on that promise as well.
Fed up, Mark sued Johnny for breach of contract on both the promise to buy the car and the promise for the $10,000.
Discuss whether the elements of a contract are satisfied in this case.
Write a short essay, between 400 and 500 words, responding to the assignment below. You are expected to use the textbook and outside resources to provide accurate and substantive answers to the question. Also, be sure to make use of illustrating examples where appropriate. Submit your work in APA format.
Explanation / Answer
Breach of contract occurs when any one of the party involved in a contract fails to perform any term of a contract without a legitimate excuse. In the first case, Johnny offered to buy a car from Mark. However, Mark asked for some time to think about the offer. Then, Johnny did a written promise to keep the offer open for two weeks, although he purchased another car during this period.
In this case, Johnny has given an offer to Mark; however Mark has not accepted or rejected it. Hence, no contract was formed between both the parties. An offer can be revoked any time. Therefore, Mark cannot sue Johnny for not buying his car.
In second case, Johnny promised to pay $10,000 to Mark for the help he had given him last year. This is an oral promise given by the person. However, it is accepted by Mark, but it not be considered as formation of a contract. Therefore, in this case too, Jonny cannot be held for renege the promise.
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