Question

Bobsy the Human Pretzel, a world-famous contortionist, entered into a contract on December 1, 2018 to perform at the Omaha State Fair during the month of January, 2019. Alan, the organizer of the fair, advertised that Bobsy would be performing and received purchases for many tickets to the Omaha State Fair in advance. In December 10, 2018, Noland, the owner and director of the “Museum of the Strange and Unusual,” knew of Bobsy’s contract with Alan, and offered Bobsy more money and a private jet, among other things, to convince Bobsy to perform at his museum in January, 2019 instead of performing at the Omaha State Fair. On December 15, 2018, Bobsy contacted Alan and told him that he would not be performing at the State Fair but would be performing at the “Museum of the Strange and Unusual” instead. After Alan found out this information, he filed suit against Bobsy.

(a)   If Alan sued Bobsy, demanding specific performance of the contract, who wins? Explain fully.

(b) If Alan sought an injunction against Bobsy to stop him from performing at the Museum of the Strange and Unusual, who wins? Explain fully.

(c) If Alan sued Bobsy for breach of contract and demands damages, what damages if any, may Alan recover?

(d) After Bobsy sorts out the legal issues with the Omaha State Fair, he signs a contract with the Museum of the Strange and Unusual to perform in April, 2019. While in the shower, Bobsy decides to prepare for the show by performing the very basic contortionist move, “back bend ending in pretzel.’ He slips and breaks one of his legs and severely injures his back. (side note: a contortionist is an entertainer who twists and bends their body into strange and unnatural positions.) After being stabilized in the hospital, Bobsy immediately contacts Noland and tells him what happened. Noland tells Bobsy, “Sorry to hear that, its going to be very hard for you to perform with those injuries. Can’t wait to see you pull it off!” When Bobsy refuses to abide by the contract, Noland sues Bobsy for breach of contract, judgment for whom? Explain fully.

Answer 1

1. If Alan sued Bobsy, demanding specific performance of the contract, Alan wins because Bobsy already had a contract with Alan which stipulated that Bobsy would perform at the Omaha State Fair during the month of January, 2019. If Bobsy refuses to perform without any valid reason, Alan would win the legal battle against Bobsy.

2. If Alan sought an injunction against Bobsy to stop him from performing at the Museum of the Strange and Unusual, Alan wins because Bobsy already had a contract with Alan to perform at the Omaha State Fair during the month of January, 2019 and it prevented Bobsy to perform at any other event during that period.

3. If Alan sued Bobsy for breach of contract and demands damages, Alan could recover any advance payment made to Bobsy, setup cost of the fair that Alan might have incurred, operational costs, ticketing cost, other losses due to fair cancellation etc from Bobsy.

4. In this case, since Bobsy cannot perform due to injuries, hence the contract becomes null and void due to inability of Bobsy to perform. Hence Noland cannot claim non execution of contract by Bobsy as Bobsy cannot do anything about it as he is injured and hence contract stands cancelled due to inability of Bobsy to perform.