BUSA 310 Lecture 4 Outline of Last Lecture I Chapter 6 Liability and Rebuttals II Chapter 7 Crime III Chapter 8 International Law Outline of Current Lecture I Contracts a Employment Contracts b Damages under Contract Law Current Lecture Contracts Why would you enter into a contract without writing the terms down Always write everything down when it comes to making contracts because even if you trust the person people forget Write the terms down and get the signature from both parties Also when it comes to contracts always try to read what you are agreeing to because they can get tricky Terms of a Contract In order for it to be considered a contract there has to be an offer for example when you offer to sell someone your car Then there must be an acceptance to the offer in order for it to be considered binding If there is a counter offer after the initial acceptance there must be a different acceptance regarding it Employment Law and Contracts I II In most companies most of the employees are at will employees which can be fired for any reason at any time Businesses always mess up by writing too many rules because after they put them in the contracts then you have to abide by them This can be a problem because after These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute III IV V they make so many rules then their at will employees cannot be considered at will anymore Buy Out Clauses Morality Clause have to be respectful and display good morals Examples don t give the company a bad representation Non Competes If you become good enough at your job your employer could ask you to sign a non compete which would include restrictions on how close you could work to your current employer if you decided to leave that you could not take any of their clients or work with any of their clients or give away any trade secrets In short would ensure that you would not be in direct competition with their business Courts will sometimes rule this void if the restrictions are too much or out of the question Also can be considered a contract within a contract and there fore would require another offer and more consideration When sales started to become more widespread like trading goods people became confused on their right and which laws applied to them while in different states Universal Commercial Code Also called the UCC was established to know how laws are applied between state trade with the sales of goods and businesses know who has rights to what Who has the right to apply certain laws is a big part of contracts when working with different states and countries You can usually pick any type of law but in the courtroom a judge can over rule and chose a different law especially federal judges Damages Under Contract Law Damages under contract law can vary depending on the default of the contract I II III IV Mitigation of Damages when you don t get what you thought you were getting from a contract you are responsible for trying to find an alternative Example a tenant signs a contract or a year lease but leaves after 2 months and says they aren t paying for the rest of the year You are responsible to try and find another tenant and not just sit around and wait for that person to pay you the money Specific Performance forces both parties to perform the contract If you said you were going to sell something the car then say you don t want to under contract law you have to sell them the car and hold up your end of the contract Monetary Damages these damages depend on a lot of factors but are another type of contract damages Punitive Damages are rarely applied in contract law Tortious Interference With a Contract If you interfere with an already formed contract you can be held responsible for any damages that occur because of the disruption Capacity voidable if someone is less than 18 years old they do not have the capacity to agree to a contract Mental State voidable any person entering a contract that is mentally cannot be held responsible or be bound to the contract being agreed on Legal Capacity maybe voidable the person signing the contract must have the legal authority or capacity to make and up hold the contract They must have the authority to make such decisions Impairment least likely voidable must be sober not intoxicated by alcohol or drugs while signing the contract in order to be up held but judges can rule against this Substantial Performance vs Strict Performance Substantial Performance is if the contract was upheld for the most part even if a few things didn t go exactly right then it is still kept and in play Strict Performance is when bigger parts of the contract were broken and there is a lawsuit in order to get the contract changed Whenever it comes to making contracts they must be specific and have guidelines to follow don t leave any wiggle room in the contract