Exercise 6
This exercise is about breach of contract.
Carlotta sees a horse running in Troy’s fields and decides to see if Troy will sell her the horse. During the course of negotiations, Troy realizes that Carlotta is confused about the name of the horse she wants–she keeps using the name Misty, who is actually an old broken-down nag, when the horse she saw in the field is named Sissy. Troy draws up a written contract in which he agrees to sell Misty to Carlotta for $3000 and they both sign it. When Carlotta brings a trailer to pick up her horse, she realizes that she has bought the wrong horse and refuses to pay for Misty. Troy sues Carlotta for breach of contract.
How should the judge rule?
- A. For Troy, because Carlotta agreed to pay $3000 for Misty.
- Sorry, but that's not the correct answer. Please select another.
- B. For Carlotta, because Troy knew that Carlotta was making a mistake about the horse’s name.
- The correct answer is B. This is a case of unilateral mistake by Carlotta. The mistake was material to the agreement and Troy knew that Carlotta was mistaken in her identification of the horse. Their contract for the sale of the wrongly-identified horse should not be enforced.