On August 1, 2021, Bill decided to buy a home in the City of La Verne, California. He downloaded the Zillow app to his phone and began scrolling through the homes listed for sale in the City of La Verne. Zillow is a real estate app that lists all houses currently for sale throughout the state of California; the application provides the sellers name, house address, pictures, total square footage, price, and other information that may be relevant to the sale and purchase of any given home. After viewing several homes on the Zillow App, he saw a home on 7th street he was interested in purchasing. The house was being offered for sale at a price of $750,000. He immediately emailed the seller through the Zillow app stating he would like to purchase the home for the price listed. The seller (on that same day) responded via email stating that the house was no longer available for sale; however, the seller had another home on 5th Street that was very similar in size, lay-out and price. On August 2, Bill emailed Seller and demanded that he be sold the 7th Street House because Bill had emailed his acceptance to Seller to the email address provided by Seller on the Zillow App and that he accepted all the terms of Seller’s offer as articulated on the Zillow App. Did Bill and Seller form a valid contract? IRAC your rationale in the comments!

Barber entered into a written contract with Supplier to purchase a lot of 100 units of a new shaving cream moisturizer for $30 a unit for a total purchase price of $3000. Per the contract, Barber paid Supplier $1500 as down payment and promised to pay the remaining balance upon delivery. Supplier agreed to absorb all shipping charges. Subsequent to the execution of the contract but prior to delivery, Supplier emailed Barber stating that the shaving cream moisturizer line is booming and Supplier will not be able to fill Barber’s order. Because of Supplier’s repudiation, Barber purchased 100 units of the same shaving cream moisturizer from another distributor for $40 a unit and is required to incur a shipping expense $200. Which of the following answers best describes Barber’s available remedies?

Boss bunny asked junior bunny to fill “all the eggs with jelly beans” as he pointed to a pile of eggs. Junior bunny said “ok as long as you pay me $100” boss bunny said “sure.” A few minutes later boss bunny added more eggs to the pile. Junior bunny finished putting jelly beans in the original eggs and asked for payment. Boss bunny refuses to pay Junior until he filled the new eggs that were added later. Will Junior bunny win if he sues boss bunny for breach of contract?

OK, who is daring enough to take a shot at explaining the differences between the common law standard of material breach or substantial performance versus the UCC Article 2 concept of perfect tender. Go!

A modification to a contract occurs when the parties agree to different terms than what they originally agreed to during formation. There are different rules for common law and the UCC that you must know. Generally, a modification to a contract can excuse non-performance. However, on an essay, you should address modification AFTER formation but BEFORE performance and breach. Why? If you analyze the original terms, they will be breached, you will say the modification was a lawful excuse then you have to analyze everything again under the modified terms. Do you have time for that in exam world? Nope. Rule tips: know common law, the modern trend with unanticipated circumstances in good faith and UCC 2-209.