Question

Seller owned a gentle cow called Rose. Seller had bought Rose as a breeding cow having paid $850 for
her. But after a few years with no baby calves, Seller concluded that Rose could not have calves so he
decided to sell her to his neighbor for (gasp!) beef. They agreed on a sales price of$80 for Rose and
signed a sales contract. The agreed-on price was based on their assumption that Rose was barren and
not able to breed. When the buyer came to the farm to pay the sales price and collect Rose, much to
their surprise, they discovered that Rose was pregnant. Seller was no longer willing to sell Rose to the
buyer for $80 (since a confirmed breeder was worth abou t$1,000).

Buyer sued Seller to enforce their written sales agreement. Under these circumstances:

- Buyer will win because the parties had a signed written contract.
- Seller will win based on inadequacy of consideration.
- Buyer will win based on unilateral mistake of value.
- Seller will win based on mutual mistake of fact.

Answer 1

In this case, the seller will win based on mutual mistake of fact. Because both parties were mistaken that Rose cannot have calves, they were unaware that Rose can become pregnant and they came into an agreement. Signed written contract does not impose on the agreement in this case. Even inadequacy of consideration is not valid because the seller did not know that Rose can have calves ,and its value cannot be $850 and hence he decided Rose's value for $80. Even it was not a unilateral mistake of value because the seller did not purposely decide lower value of Rose.