REPUBLIQUE DU CAMEROUN REPUBLIC OF CAMEROON

Paix – Travail – Patrie Peace – Work - Fatherland

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UNIVERSITE DE DOUALA UNIVERSITY OF DOUALA

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FACULTE DE SCIENCES JURIDIQUES FACULTY OF LAW AND POLITICAL
SCIENCES SCIENCES

FIRST SEMESTER EXAMS

LEVEL II – LAW OF CONTRACT
LECTURER: DR. AKUMAH STELLA

Question:
State the issues in the case, the law and application.

Richard has a specialist car dealership. He buys old cars, refurbishes them, and then sells them. He
also hires out cars.

Richard is restoring an old jeep. It requires a special type of shock-absorber to enable it to travel
over rough ground. Richard phones Shocks Are Us. He says to Emma, the manager: “I need four
shock absorbers which can be used for off-road driving” Emma consults a brochure published by
the shock absorber manufacturer and “Says the D200 shock absorber can be used for off-road
driving.”. Richard then agrees to buy four D200 shock absorbers for $ 120 each. When he installs
them on the jeep and takes it for a test drive over rough country, the shock absorbers give way and
the jeep crashes down, causing $ 2 000 worth of damage to its body. It turns out that when Emma
gave Richard the information over the phone, she had been looking at the wrong page of the
brochure. Had she looked at the correct page, she would have seen that the D200 is not suitable for
off-road driving.

Richard operates his business from a premises which he has leased from George for $ 5 000 per
month since January 2016. The lease specifies that the rent is to be paid to George every six months
and that it will increase every year by 10%. Richard pays George $ 30 000 in June 2016 and
December 2016, but then tells George that he is having financial difficulties and needs every dollar
he can to buy equipment. George says “OK, I will let you off paying the increase this year”.
Richard is pleased with this and uses the money he would have had to spend on the rent increase to
buy new tools. In June 2017, Richard pays $ 30 000 to George, but George contacts him demanding
an additional $ 3 000. When Richard refers to their earlier conversation, George says “Whatever I
said, the lease you signed specifies that the rent will go up by 10% each year”.

Tom is a collector of vintage cars. He sees that Richard has a 1979 Mercedes 450SEL for sale on
his website, priced at $ 20 000. Tom sends Richard an email saying, “I offer to buy the 1979
Mercedes 450SEL for $ 18 500”. Richard sends an email back saying “Sorry, that is not enough,
but I will sell it to you for $ 19 000”. Tom sends an email back saying “No, I can’t pay that”.
Richard then sends an email saying “OK, I accept your original offer of $ 18 500”, but when he
brings the car to Tom’s house, Tom refuses to accept it or to pay the money.

When Richard goes on holiday, Martin looks after his car lot. Martin doesn’t have a car. However,
a friend of Martin’s is about to visit town and he wants to be able to drive her around. Martin goes
to Richard and says, “Can I hire one of your cars?” Richard says “The usual price is $ 50 per day,
but because you looked after my car lot in August, you can hire it at no cost. You can pick it up on
Monday”. Martin is very pleased and readily agrees, but when he comes to pick up the car, Richard
says that he has hired it out to a customer. Martin says that Richard has breached their agreement.

Advise Richard of his legal position in relation to each of these four scenarios. You should assume
that all facts given would be provable if the matters came to court. You should also assume that
when any of the people mentioned conduct business, they do so as sole traders, not through
corporations.