• Brian McDonald spent his time away from work on his hobby, model trains. His t
ID: 437097 • Letter: #
Question
• Brian McDonald spent his time away from work on his hobby, model trains. His train set was large and consisted of rare and one-of-a-kind trains. One day, while visiting with fellow train hobbyist Harry, Brian said, “When I retire in 2 years from Foodmart, I’m going to sell my trains and spend the rest of my life traveling on real trains.” Brian told Harry that he was the only person he planned to offer his trains to, because he knew Harry would take care of them. Harry said he looked forward to the day when he could buy the trains. Harry spent the next 2 years and most of his savings building a new 2,000-square foot room onto his house to make room for the trains. When Harry told Brian he was building the new room, Brian just smiled. Brian also heard that Harry borrowed money from his aunt to buy the trains. When Brian retired, he sold his trains to his neighbor, James. Harry sued Brian, claiming breach of contract.Who wins? Explain your answer.
Explanation / Answer
It is very likely, Brian wins and Harry loses in every level.Going by point to point we can review each of the theory: a. CONTRACT THEORY: It essentially requires offer, acceptance, and consideration. An offer cannot be constituted on the basis of communication(verbal talk),as the words i.e. language rather tells us an idea about contemplation of an offer in future and there is no mention of materialistic terms (money), rather it suggests a contemporaneous offer. Harry can raise a point about an "options contract" that existed as Brian showed an interest to offer the trains exclusively to him, but no consideration exists for this offer. So this concludes that CONTRACT THEORY fails!!! 2. "PROMISSORY ESTOPPEL": It essentially requires a reasonable reliance,promise and satisfaction of equity. Harry will argue that Brian promised him that he would have the first and exclusive option to purchase the trains, that his reliance was reasonable, and that Brian's silence in the face of facts that would lead him to believe reliance was taking place, when he had an opportunity to speak, sways the equities in his favor. The main two points or reasons as to why promissory estoppel, probably fails here: 1.Harry took unreasonable reliance actions. Reasonableness is objective. No promise about the price of trains was made by Brian, and since his trains were rare and unique, it is not reasonable for Harry to speculate as to the amount. In addition to it, the promise was not concrete to constitute a imposing (binding) promise . It lacked materiality, and its form did not suggest an invitation to rely on the statement as a promise. As the reliability in the face of statemnet was not that reasonable, it is a fail for Harry even on this ground of PROMISSORY ESTOPPEL.
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