CAPITAL UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL

CONTRACTS - PROF. JEFF FERRIELL

FALL 1999 FINAL EXAM

QUESTION I – 33 1/3% - LIMIT YOUR ANSWER TO 5 PAGES IN A BLUEBOOK

Fred Howard lives at 774 4th Street, in the middle of the quaint historic community of German Village, just south of Downtown Metroplis. Most outsiders experience the streets of German Village as a complex maze of narrow streets and alleys with short dead-ends. Many of the brick 1 1/2 story cottages and 2 story Queen Anne & Italianate Victorian homes look alike to those unfamiliar with late 19th century architecture.

Ace Roofing and Gutters was employed by Mr. Fred Howard, a long-time German Village resident, to have his slate roof repaired and his gutters cleaned. Fred met Joe Ace at his house, at 774 4th Street and, after looking at the roof from the ground, Joe agreed that he and his crew would have the work done for a price of $500.

Later, when Joe attempted to locate Mr. Howard’s home, to start work, he became quite disoriented driving through German Village. He was used to working in the suburbs and in German Village all the streets and houses looked alike. When he located 744 4th Street, the residence of Ms. Dana Martin, Ace mistakenly thought he was at the right place. The house was a 2 story brick Victorian, with messy gutters and a slate roof badly in need of repair. Joe and his crew spent most of the day cleaning the gutters and repairing the roof. The job took longer than he had originally thought it would, and he would have liked to have charged $800 for the work, his usual fee for a job this big, instead of the $500 he had agreed to charge Fred.

Just as Joe and his crew were taking down their ladders and leaving, Ms. Martin came home. She immediately asked Joe what he was doing? Joe, not yet realizing that he was at the wrong house, and thinking that Dana was nothing more than an intermeddling neighbor, explained that he was cleaning the gutters and repairing the roof on Mr. Howard's house as requested. Dana explained that Joe was at the wrong house and that Fred Howard lived several doors down at 774 4th Street.

Now realizing his mistake, Joe protested that he had done a day's worth of work at Martin's house and quickly prepared a bill for $800, the amount he normally would have charged for the work he had done. When he presented the bill to Martin she told Joe that she understood his problem but that she hadn't asked him to do any work on her house, and didn't have $800 to pay him anyway. When Joe threatened to sue if Martin didn't pay, Martin told Joe, that she would pay $600, but that Joe would have to wait for two months to receive anything. Joe said that he'd hold off suing until he received Martin’s payment.

Martin is pleased with the work done on her house. She had, in fact, been planning to hire someone to perform the work completed by Joe as part of her preparations to sell her house. Martin’s real estate agent had advised Dana that without these repairs, the house would be worth $3000-$5000 less than she could expect to get if the roof was repaired and the gutters cleaned. Despite this, Martin would like to avoid paying Joe, if she can.

DRAFT AN ESSAY ANALYZING MARTIN’S LIABILITY TO JOE.