Question

"As You Like It" is a movie rental club that rents movies at a cost of $10.00 for 10 days per movie rented.    Jill Thom was excited to use this facility since there was no internet in her area and the television options were limited. Besides it would be a good way to pass the time with the family over the weekends. She planned to make popcorn. Jill paid for the movies. At the bottom of the receipt it stated that if the movies were returned after 10 days there was an additional daily cost per movie of $7.00.  

The movies were so enjoyable that they were replayed several times over and was returned 2 weeks late. When Jill returned them she was told that she had to pay an additional amount of over $500.00 for the late return. She was furious and comes to you for advice.

Advise Jill.

Answer 1

Q: "As You Like It" is a movie rental club that rents movies at a cost of $10.00 for 10 days per movie rented.    Jill Thom was excited to use this facility since there was no internet in her area and the television options were limited. Besides it would be a good way to pass the time with the family over the weekends. She planned to make popcorn. Jill paid for the movies. At the bottom of the receipt it stated that if the movies were returned after 10 days there was an additional daily cost per movie of $7.00. The movies were so enjoyable that they were replayed several times over and was returned 2 weeks late. When Jill returned them she was told that she had to pay an additional amount of over $500.00 for the late return. She was furious and comes to you for advice. Advise Jill.

Ans: Jill Thom is bound by the terms and conditions or clauses as stated on the bottom of the receipt as it was an implied contract which would be binding and enforceable on Jill Thom by the movie rental club, so Jill Thom is obligated to pay the movie rental club for the late return. She knew in advance that the condition was to rent movies at a cost of $10.00 for 10 days per movie rented. The bottom of the receipt clearly stated that if the movies were returned after 10 days there was an additional daily cost per movie of $7.00. Jill Thom deliberately returned the movies 2 weeks late and is bound to pay for the delays as the delays caused by Jill could have caused loss of business to "As You Like It" movie rental club as they weren't able to rent those ten movies to other customers for the same duration, further it would have caused inconvenience to the other customers who may have wanted to rent these movies during the late return period. In fact, if one were to calculate the amount owed by Jill Thom due to the late return, it would amount to $980.00 ($7.00 per day x 10 movies rented x 14 days / 2 weeks), and the movie rental club is only charging her $500.00, which is $480.00 lower than the actual amount the movie rental club could have charged for the late return, so she should pay it to close the issue quickly without any legal costs and avoid such a situation in the future.