Question

Contract law?using IRAC method to answer the question.

David owns a music store. He wants to encourage more customers to visit the store so he decides that he will put in massage chairs for customers to use when listening the samples of music. David enters a contract where he will hire 5 massage chairs from Emily for a price of $300/month for six months. Three months later, David discovers that the massage chairs are not bringing any additional business. David talked to Emily about this. Emily promises that she will reduce the price of the chairs to $200/month for the remaining three months of the contract. Six months later David receives the invoice from Emily for the full amount of $300/month x three months, not the $200 x three months he was expecting to pay based on the promise made by Emily. David is happy to pay the reduced amount, but does not think that he is required to pay the full amount.

Advice David

Answer 1

Issue - The issue here is the invoice that has been sent by Emily includes the full amount that is $300 for all the 6 months but David was expecting that it would have been $300 for the first three months and $200 for the next three months as it was verbally promised by Emily

Rule - The rule is very clear in this context which states that the Contract that was made during the business has to be followed which states that David has to pay $300 each for the six months. The promise that was made by Emily after three months was just a verbal promise and cannot be considered as a valid agreement.

Analysis - If we analyze the situation then we will observe that when David realized that the massage chairs are actually not helping him attract business and after conveying the same to Emily she promised to reduce the price to $200 for the next three months but this promise was not included in the contract and verbal promise cannot be considered as a formal document.

Conclusion - Hence in this case David needs to pay the total amount of $1800 which is $300 for all the 6 months instead of $1500.