FALL 1998 CONTRACTS MIDTERM I -- ESSAY QUESTION
Limit your answer to 3 pages in a Bluebook

Gordon Gardner has a degree in horticulture, a green thumb, and is a gifted designer. He
plans in-stalls, and maintains decorative gardens for residential customers.

Gordon agreed in writing to plan and install a complex landscape at the residence of Lloyd
Frank, for a price of $30,000, with 3 weeks of work to begin on August 24. Gordon based
his price on a figure of $1000 per week based on the amount of $25 per hour for his time
(40 hrs x $25 = $1000), plus the cost of whatever plants and other materials he installed. He
anticipated that completing the job would take 3 weeks. Because the exotic plant materials
he would need for the job would cost between $26,000 and $28,000, Gordon was not sure
whether he would make a real cash profit on the job.

Gordon agreed to do the work for this bargain price because of Frank's prominence in the
commu-nity and his reputation for holding many lavish parties with numerous wealthy guests.
Gordon an-ticipated that the opportunity to complete Frank's garden would result in
additional and more profit-able work . Furthermore, he knew that Gordon's house was
scheduled to be included in the "Subur-ban House & Garden Tour" scheduled for the
following spring, which would give thousands of peo-ple the opportunity to see Gordon's
work.

Shortly after Gordon took the job with Frank he turned down a job designing and installing
Kerry Kenwood's garden. The Kenwood job involved less expensive and more readily
available plant ma-terials, but would have taken the same amount of time as the Frank
house. The Kenwood job, which Kenwood wanted done by the same deadline as Frank,
would have netted Gordon a certain $9,000 in earnings above and beyond the cost of
materials he would have used.

In the first week of work for Mr. Frank, Gordon spent $20,000 for a little over 2/3 of the
exotic plant materials he would need, and began installing them. He estimated that it would
cost between $6,000-$8,000 for the additional plants he would need to finish. At the end of
this first week, Frank decided he didn't like the exotic plants and, in breach of their contract
fired Gordon, telling him to remove the work already completed, and leave. Frank did not
pay Gordon anything for the work already done.

Gordon took two days of the second week to dig up the plants he had already installed and
to find other work. Gordon was able to resell the removed plants, which were slightly
damaged due to transplant shock, for only $15,000. After completing the removal, Gordon
turned down an offer to plan and install a garden for Xavier, even though it would have
earned him $2000 over the next week and a-half, because Xavier was not well-known in
the community and completing the work for Xavier was not likely to draw attention to
Gordon's work in the same way that the Lloyd Frank Gar-den would have.

At the end of the second week, however, Gordon became desperate and accepted two
additional jobs, both of which had to be done by the end of the third week that he would
have been working at the Frank house. Yolanda hired Gordon to install her garden, agreeing
to pay him $1200 over the cost of the plants he would have to purchase. This work would
take Gordon 40 hours. In addition, Zelda hired Gordon to design a garden for her house,
agreeing to pay $400 for what Gordon knew would take another 20 hours. Gordon took
both of these jobs, even though it would require him to work 20 more hours than he would
have worked during this week on the Frank estate, because he needed the cash.

DRAFT AN ESSAY ANALYZING GORDON'S LIKELY RECOVERY FROM
FRANK DUE TO FRANK'S BREACH.