Business Law and Ethics

BUS 518. 2

Assignment No.: 02

Prepared for: Dr. Shima Zaman

Prepared by:
Nasimul Alam Shaurav Bhuiyan
153-1101-660

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Assignment # 02

Radio station QUES (Station), put an identification tag on a large bass fish it named “Big
Bertha” and placed it in a nearby lake (the Lake) as a part of a promotional fishing contest.
Station advertised the contest during radio broadcasts, but required no formal entry. The
advertisement stated that anyone who caught Big Bertha on hook and line and presented it to
station would be entitled to a $5,000 cash price.

Betty and Sam often went boating at the lake with friends. While driving together to the lake,
Sam said that he was having problems paying his mortgage and owed past due taxes on his
property (Blackacre). Sam told Betty, “I will give you a deed to Blackacre if you agree to pay
all past due taxes and to make all future mortgage payments due on Blackacre. Betty had
always wanted to own Blackacre and she immediately replied, “I agree!” Betty did not intend
to fish but while sitting in Sam’s boat she picked up an extra fishing pole and decided to drop
a fishing line into the lake to see what might happen. Almost immediately Betty felt a fish
bite her hook. Sam saw this and yelled, “You may have hooked Big Bertha! Reel her in and
you will win $5,000 cash price offered by QUES.” Betty reeled in her catch and saw the Big
Bertha identification tag. She called station and told then she had caught Big Bertha with
hook and line. When Betty presented Big Bertha and attempted to claim the $5,000 cash
price, station refused to pay her because “She had not actually participated in the contest but
was merely on a social outing” when she caught Big Bertha.

After returning from the lake, Betty paid the past due taxes on Blackacre and immediately
moved in where she has continuously and exclusively resided. Besides regularly paying the
mortgage, Betty added a new family room and new front yard landscaping to the property
that permanently improved Blackacre, greatly enhancing its appearance and value. However,
when Betty asked Sam to give her the deed to Blackacre as he had promised, Sam refused to
do so.

I. Does Betty have an enforceable contract against Sam?

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Case summary:

Betty and Sam used to go for boating at the lake with their friends. At the time while driving
together to the lake, Sam said that he was having problems paying his mortgage and owed
past due taxes on his property (Blackacre). Sam told Betty, “I will give you a deed to
Blackacre if you agree to pay all past due taxes and to make all future mortgage payments
due on Blackacre.” Betty had always wanted to own Blackacre and she immediately replied,
“I agree!” Returning from the lake, Betty paid the past due taxes on Blackacre and
immediately moved in where she has continuously and exclusively resided. Furthermore,
regularly paying the mortgage, Betty added a new family room and new front yard
landscaping to the property that permanently improved Blackacre, greatly enhancing its
appearance and value. Nevertheless, when Betty asked Sam to give her the deed to Blackacre
as he had promised, Sam refused to do so.

Introduction:

A contract is an exchange of oral or written promises between two or more parties to do or

not do a particular thing, which is enforceable by law. It creates legal obligations between
two or more “parties” (individuals, businesses, institutions, etc.) involved in the contract.
Elements of a valid contract are agreement and enforceability by law in court. Contracts are
agreements to exchange something of value (usually goods or services) that are enforceable
in court.

From the above case summary we can understand that it is a contract related case. In this case
it is asked for analyzing and proper judgments. Since it is a contract related case we have to
analyze some facts based upon the above incident to come into a distinct solution. These facts
are stated as follows:

Factual Analysis:

There are three basic elements to form a contract. They are stated below.

 Offer
 Acceptance
 Revocation & Consideration

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Offer and acceptance are elements required for the formation of a legally binding contract.
To form an offer a person making the statement intends to comply with the statement that
someone will agree with his proposal and accept it. The expression of an offer is to contract
on certain terms by one person (the "offeror") to another person (the "offeree"). To
accomplish acceptance communication is compulsory from both sides (Offeror and offeree).
Revocation is the act of recall or annulment. It is capsizing of an act, the recalling of a grant
or privilege, or the making void of some deed previously existing. Offer and acceptance of
the offer must be for some consideration.

At first we have to find the answer of the following question before going to any further
analysis.

According to this particular case, “Is there any valid offer or not??” The answer is “YES”.
Yes, there was a valid offer which was offered by Sam to Betty while boating at the lake.
Sam gave an offer to Betty to pay all the past due taxes and to make all the future mortgage
payments due in Blackacre and he would give Betty the deed of Blackacre. So it is obvious
that there is a valid offer in this case.

But the offer must be accepted by the other party to form a contract. So we need to know the
acceptance status of that offer. The following question may reveal the answer.

“Is the offer is accepted by Betty or not?” the answer is “YES”. Betty cordially accepted
Sam’s offer and she gave her free consent to Sam regarding Blackacre. So it is very clear the
communication from the both side is successful. Sam’s communication of proposal is done
when he told the offer to Betty and Betty’s communication of acceptance is done when she
gave her free consent to Sam by saying “I agree”. So communication is made clearly. By
accepting Sam’s offer Betty fulfilled her task which was asked by Sam. Betty paid the past
due taxes on Blackacre. Furthermore, regularly paying the mortgage Betty made some
extensions which greatly enhance the appearance and the value of the property.

In this particular case we can also see consideration which is another pre requisite to form a
contract.
As the offer was valid, communication from both the parties has been done and the offer was
accepted by Betty so there is no chance of revocation of that offer. Once acceptance is done
no revocation of offer can be taken place. If Sam further wants to revoke this offer, then
Betty has a strong reason to sue a case against Sam. So Sam doesn’t have the legal right or

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ability to revoke his offer. If Sam fails to fulfill his promise, then Betty has a strong reason to
file a case against Sam.

Conclusion

So above all these analyses we can conclude that there is no chance of revocation for Sam.
Because Sam sent an offer and Betty accepted that offer within a specific time. So there is a
contract. On the facts presented, it is accordingly advised that Betty will be able to enforce
Sam’s promise to hand of the deed of Blackacre.

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