Contracts Fact Pattern

Fast Eddie is the only car dealer in the west end of Anytown. The west end is in the slums and has a high crime rate. Eddie sells junkers with a high mark up -- typically twice what a similar car would cost in the north end where there are three car dealers. Fast Eddie has just bought a brand new electrified fence at a substantial cost and hired several security people with attack dogs to patrol his lot at night. Up until the new security measures, one out of three cars had been stolen off of his lot. "The security cost me a bundle," Eddie says, "but I bet I'll only lose one out of six of these junkers now." Only one bus drives through the west end and makes only two circuits. It picks people up at 10 am and drops them off in the north end at 11 am. It starts from the north end at 3 PM and drops them off in the west end at 4 PM. There are no other buses. There is no way to reasonably walk out of the west end. You either take the bus or have a car. Laura is a welfare mom. She dropped out of high school to have her baby. Laura is about to lose her welfare money as part of the new welfare-to-work program. She has secured a job in the north end which pays her $1000 a month after taxes. She must report to work by 9 am each day and stay until 4 PM or she will lose the job. There are no taxis willing to go to the west end. Laura goes to Fast Eddie to buy a car. He offers her any car on the lot for $2400, which is approximately twice the cost of the same vehicle if you bought it in the north end. She tries to negotiate with Eddie, but he brushes her off by saying, "It's part of my 'No Haggle Policy'. One price for everything -- $2400. Take it or leave it. Here's the contract." The terms are that Laura can pay off the $2400 over the course of a year in 12 equal installments, or $200 a month. If Laura defaults on any payment then Eddie gets to repossess the car and keep all of the payments. Laura's expenses are $750 a month, which Eddie is aware of. The interest rate on a good loan in this city would be 20%. Laura reads the contract, but doesn't understand the part about keeping all of the payments and repossession. She's desperate for a car, however, so she signs an agreement to these terms and buys the car. She starts work and everything goes well until the 11th month when her baby gets sick. Laura has to pay the doctor and misses a payment on the car. Eddie repossesses. Laura loses her job, gets evicted from her apartment and ends up in a homeless shelter where her baby gets even more sick because of the drafty conditions. Laura's boss says that if she can get the car for transportation, then she gets her job back.

Property Fact Pattern

Theresa was about to start her first year of law school in a new city. While visiting the school in June, she entered into a one-year lease for an apartment with Larry, a landlord. The lease stated that rent was to start on September 1 and that rent of $500 was due at the first of each month. Theresa showed up at the apartment on September 1, having already paid the first month's rent, with a rental truck loaded with her furniture but she was unable to move in because Harry was still living there. Theresa immediately called Larry and informed him of the situation. Larry said, "It's not my problem." Theresa checked into a motel and kept her furniture in the rental truck incurring additional charges on the rental truck. Two weeks later, Harry moved out of the apartment, and Theresa moved into the apartment on September 15. On October 15 just as the weather began to turn cold, L turned off the heat and hot water to the apartment because T had not paid her rent on October 1. T insisted that L owed her for the two weeks in September

that she was unable to live in the apartment. On investigating the lack of hot water, T noticed that the roof leaked. She did not inform L about the leak. T had to pay for a gym membership to take a hot shower every day. On November 15, Theresa had become disgusted with the cold water and moved out of the apartment without ever having paid October or November rent. She immediately informed Larry of her reasons. Larry didn't do anything until December 1 when he finally inspected the apartment and discovered the leak. During the period of November 15 to December 1, there had been substantial rains and the leak caused considerable damage to the apartment. Larry fixed the leak and hot water, and put a one-line ad on the Internet looking for a tenant. The ad cost Larry $10. No one rented the apartment until February 1. Question: What are the rights and obligations of both the Landlord and the Tenant?

Torts Fact Pattern

David is driving 25 MPH in 25 MPH zone down a four lane street where there are children playing. One nine-year-old child, Kevin, runs into the street chasing a soccer ball. David, without looking over his shoulder, swerves into the other lane to avoid Kevin and in the process he hits a car, driven by Peter, that was speeding past him in the left-hand lane going in the same direction. Peter loses control of his car, hits a telephone pole and is seriously and permanently injured. The telephone pole, owned by the local phone company TeleCo, easily snaps into two pieces and hits Kevin, who is still in the street, knocking him unconscious and resulting in permanent injuries. TeleCo never did any testing of its poles to establish how easily the poles broke. The only factor used in manufacturing the poles was cost. The poles were made of low quality trees and were not treated in any significant manner except for a coating of tar. No reinforcement was used on the poles. Question: What are the various liabilities and rights of the parties involved?