Contract Formation and Dispute Resolution

Document Type:Case Study

Subject Area:Law

Document 1

This paper looks into the contracts involving the various individuals; the legal positions and remedies for the various cases of the involved parties, and the various dispute resolution alternatives, their pros and cons. Contract Formation A contract is an agreement between private parties who make mutual obligations that are enforceable by law. Mutual assent, offer and acceptance, capacity, legality, and adequate consideration are the main elements of a legally enforceable contract (Singapore Legal Advice, 2017). A mutual assent comes into place whenever an offeree and the offeror accept the offer and its terms. This is part of the process in actualising a contract. Bernard and Alan had time to make adequate consideration about the offer. Alan acknowledged reception of the payment money from Bernard which was sent through the post.

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The transaction was completed when Bernard received the products from Alan. However, Alan did not adhere to all terms of the agreement, which causes legal issues including a breach of contract, as will be discussed in the following sections. On the other hand, Charleen and Alan entered into a contract which was basically verbal and implied. Another issue that arose in the contract is that Alan accepted cash from Bernard without delivering the promised products in the contract. Alan committed fraud by selling a product that is otherwise not for sale to students. However, this aspect does not affect the case. Alan also delivered the materials late which is immaterial breach of contract since neither Bernard nor Alan pointed that time frame was essential (Hee, 2018).

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The message on Facebook could be used to support the claims of Bernard while the products delivered would be exhibits in a court of law. However, the damages are a bit inadequate in this case since Bernard will have to spend time looking for other notes. Therefore, the court may order a special performance to Alan such as getting copies of the handwritten notes whereby he will take care of the costs of photocopying and delivery. Another remedy to this case would be cancellation and restitution (Kim, 2017). This will take an agreement between Alan and Bernard to cancel the contract, which makes it void and all parties are relieved of any obligation. Restitution will ensure that Bernard gets his money back (Singapore Legal Advice, 2017).

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Another remedy could be nominal damages. Charleen did not make losses when the contract was breached. Another remedy that could be used in this case could be punitive damages. This remedy would help to settle Charleen above and beyond the point that would fully compensate her. This will act as a punishment to Alan for breaching the contract and as a way of deterring future cases. However, specific performance remedy would be more suitable for this case. Specific performance remedy would oblige Alan to perform his promises as close as possible since no monetary compensation would fix the harm adequately. Alternative Dispute Resolution Options There are several alternative dispute resolutions that could be applied in these cases. The options are mainly out-of-court settlements of the disputes as it is a fact that formal lawsuits and courts are not the only viable measures to solving disputes.

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These alternatives could include arbitration, mediation, minitrials, and early neutral evaluations (McGregor, 2015). Mediation involves engaging a neutral intermediary to facilitate voluntary and mutually acceptable settlement of the dispute (McGregor, 2015). One of the advantages of mediation is that it is cheaper compared to litigation and can very little time to get a solution to an issue (National Paralegal College, 2018). Attorneys are not a necessity in this case but may be present under the request of the parties. Another advantage of mediation is that the preparation process for mediation is simpler compared to litigation or arbitration. However, mediation has some limitation including the fact that evidence to the case is overly overlooked unlike in litigation processes (National Paralegal College, 2018). Retrieved from https://www.

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