LSB 3213 1st Edition Final Exam Study Guide Chapter 19 Breach of contract One party in the contract breaches or does not follow the terms of the contract Benefit of the Bargain Party that suffered the loss is able to get the benefit of the bargain what they bargained for agreed to in the contract is what the court will give you Remedy 5 forms of equitable remedies for breach of contract Damages for Breach of contract Compensatory direct losses costs o Direct damages and incidentals that you actually lost these can always be won in lawsuit if you win the lawsuit o Example if you buy 10 apples for 10 and they are rotten you could get the 10 back if you had to pay 5 to ship the apples back you could get that money back as well Incidental incidental costs o Incidental costs that you actually lost these can always be won in lawsuit if you win the lawsuit o Example buy rotten apples and had to pay 5 to ship the apples back you could get that money back as well Consequential Special indirect foreseeable losses special o Damages caused by the breach of contract o Example if you ate the rotten apples and got sick you could sue to recover your medical costs o These are not guaranteed to be paid back o The issue how far can you take get the consequential damages o Two factor analysis Reasonably foreseeable Provable with reasonable certainty Punitive punish and deter wrongdoing o This is rare in contract damages they only care about benefit of the bargain and related damages Nominal moral victory wrongdoing w o financial loss o You won the case but no financial damages are awarded Equitable Remedies Not money Rescission undo the contract pretend it never happened o Seen if you sue based on mistake or misrepresentation Restitution give back the goods pay back the money o Seen in equitable remedies ie Unjust enrichment Specific Performance take an action o Court ordered to do something o Example sell the house disclose the information deliver the goods Injunction don t take an action Reformation rewrite the contract correct an error Mitigate Damages innocent party must pursue replacement options to reduce damages caused by breach Liquidated Damages vs Penalty Liquidated damages o Estimate actual damages incurred by the breach of contract in advance o Cannot be viewed as a penalty or an excessive amount o Used to avoid proving damages after breach Example New retail store opening for holiday season If construction is not done by Nov 1 then contractor pays 500 per day for delay o Hard to prove actual damages for new store o 500 per day 5 000 5 million Has to bare relative value to what the actual value might be so it can t be so high that it is more of a punishment penalty than the actual damage value Chapter 6 Tort Tort means a wrong in French o Which wrongs will law try to make right Protected interest in physical safety and private property o In law a tort is a civil i e not criminal wrong that is not a breach of contract Types of torts Intentional torts intentionally harm someone willful malicious Reckless torts didn t intend to do it but close to intentional conscious disregard of a known risk o Intentional and reckless torts are very similar o You can get punitive damages for these two levels but not for negligence or strict liability Negligent torts careless not intentional Strict liability torts happened and you are responsible cause effect not mental state Types of damages for torts Compensatory damages o Direct immediate harms Injuries medical costs lost wages o Intangible harms Privacy reputation emotional distress pain suffering Punitive damages flagrant reprehensible conduct o Punish the person that caused you the harm damages those are paid to you as well Intentional torts against people Assault and battery Assault and battery are criminal charges but you can also sue them as a tort for the harm and medical costs it cost o The government prosecutes criminals you can sue for torts False imprisonment Intentional restraint of freedom without justification o Seen in shoplifting cases o Merchants may use reasonable force in a reasonable manner for a reasonable time There is no specific guidelines definition for reasonable o Important to remember not what the person felt thought what a reasonable person would feel or think Defamation including libel and slander 4 elements to prove False statement presented as true Statement is about plaintiff and harmed plaintiff s reputation Published to at least one person besides plaintiff If plaintiff is public figure must prove actual malice meant intentionally harmed the person Libel defamation in writing Slander defamation in speech Invasion of property disclosing information that is private information Fraudulent misrepresentation fraud Intentional torts against property Trespass land Trespass to land not always a person can be water animals etc Conversion tort version of theft Negligence unintentional torts Duty do you owe a duty to someone Freedom to act without hurting others Breach did you breach the duty you had how would a reasonable person have acted in the particular circumstances Cause what you did caused the injury o Cause in fact but for But for the act would the injury have occurred If your action didn t take place would the injury still have occurred o Proximate cause Was the injury foreseeable or too remote to foresee occurring Harm what you did caused harm Tortious interference Wrongful interference with a contractual relationship Usually the third party to the contract is not responsible for damages but o Tortious interference with contract requires Contract exists 3rd party knows of contract 3rd party intentionally induces breach Wrongful interference with a business relationship Example of poaching employees If an employee has a non compete agreement with their current employer but another company wants to hire that employee and convinces them to leave the company and work for the new company the new company wrongfully interfered with the contract as they knew of the contract and intentionally convinced the employee to breach the contract Defenses to negligence Failure to prove the four elements of negligence superseding clause Assumption of risk At a Seattle Mariners game a family was sitting along the right field line where many foul balls go by sitting there they assume the risk of getting hit by a baseball If during warm ups before the game the pitcher throws the ball by the first line and then hits a woman sitting along