When Gordon told Hanson that he was considering selling his ...

[lak]

When Gordon told Hanson that he was considering selling his house, Hanson offered to buy it. Gordon and Hanson entered into a contract in which Hanson paid Gordon 1,000 in cash for the right to buy Gordon's house for 150,000 in the event Gordon decided to sell it. Two weeks later, Jones offered Gordon 200,000 for his house, and Gordon agreed to sell it to her for that amount. Hanson sued Gordon to force Gordon to sell the house to him for 150,000, rather than to Jones for 200,000. Identify the probable result of the action. What type of contract, if any, was entered into between Gordon and Hanson?

Question 2

The Martin family owned a home that was badly in need of repair. Mrs. Martin worked outside the home and Mr. Martin took care of the household responsibilities and cared for the two young Martin children. One day, Mrs. Martin left for work and a home repair crew drove up and began to put aluminum siding on the Martin house. Mr. Martin telephoned his wife, told her, and inquired about whether she had hired the workers. When the Martins realized that they never had ordered this work done, Mr. Martin sneaked out the back with the children. He later met his wife at work and they returned home for dinner. By that time, the entire front of the house had been aluminum-sided. The foreman asked, Mr. and Mrs. Wolf, how do you like the job? The Martins replied that they loved the job, but the Wolfs lived next door. When it became clear that the repair crew had made an error, the foreman insisted that the Martins had to pay. a. Decide the case, and explain the reason(s) for your decision. b. Decide the case, assuming that the Martins were away on vacation when the improvements were made, and then returned home to discover the improvements.

[moormoney]

Answer to Question 1

Judgment would be for Hanson. Gordon and Hanson entered into a first-refusal contract providing that if Gordon decided to sell his house to anyone, Hanson would have an option to buy it for 150,000. Hanson's right to buy the house arose at the time Gordon decided to sell his house to Jones. Gordon breached his contract with Hanson by not offering to sell Hanson the house and instead entering into an agreement with Jones.

Answer to Question 2

a.

Because it was clear that the workers would be seeking payment for the work and had made an error, the Martins had the obligation to stop the work or be responsible for payment. This is a quasi-contractual obligation imposed by the law to prevent one party from being unjustly enriched at the expense of another. The Martins are obligated to pay for the reasonable value of the improvements.

b.

If the Martins were unaware of the fact that the improvements were being made, it is unlikely that a judge would order them to pay for the improvements. In this scenario, because the Martins would have had no opportunity to stop the work from being performed, the Martins would not be unjustly enriched.