Question

In 1919, Pasha Patel owned several acres of land in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Half a pond was located on Patel's land. The other half of the pond was located on land owned by Brooke Brookhaven. For a small consideration, Patel Transferred the right to cut ice on her side of the pond each winter to Fred Xavier. The contract was oral and supposed to last for the next five winters. Each day from early from early October to late March, Xavier would cut the ice and remove it. He would carefully carve the ice into large cubes that fit perfectly into the ice boxes located in the rental cabins dotting the Upper Peninsula. He then sold the ice to the cabin renters. one summer Brookhaven drained her part of the pond. In october, this action meant that ice was sparse, and what was available was sunk into the mud at the bottom of the lake and thus unusable for carving and sale. Xavier brought suit against Brookhaven, agruing that her action in draining the lake made his interest in the property worthless. The court asked for a copy of the written contract transferring the right to cut the ice to Xavier. When Xavier could not produce one, the judge dismissed the case. What will be the result of the case at this point? Explain.

Answer 1

As per the above case, the result of the court will be in favor of Brookhaven. This can be explained considering the following points:

• Although an oral contract can be valid if the important terms of a contract are satisfied, those are: Offer, Acceptance and consideration but there are certain contracts which only requires written agreements and evidences by the courts. Such contracts include property or real estate contracts which are made for longer duration.
• Since the above case is related to property usage, it becomes essential for the Xavier to provide written evidences of the agreement in the court that rights to cut ice on Patel's pond was transferred to him by Patel for some consideration or amount.

Thus, in spite of the fulfillment of all the important terms of a contract by Patel and Xavier the contract cannot be considered valid by the court because Xavier couldn’t produce any written evidence to prove his claim against Brookhaven.

Hence, the decision of the court at this point will be in favor of Brookhaven.