Too funny, Athensview, from the mind of an attorney indeed!
Via athensview: Note: The following is fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to anything that actually happens in real life, is coincidental.
Further Note: Thanks to athensmusicandarts for planting the idea that I should stroll past Junkman’s today.
Contracts I. Fall Examination.
Question 1.
Heather Anne, age 8, walks into the Junkman’s Daughter’s Brother accompanied by her cocker spaniel and her brother Benji, age 6. Pointing to the sign on the door, Heather Anne asks politely for an espresso and a kitten. Chiara (played by Annie Potts), who’s running the register, smiles, but says nothing. Heather Anne then reiterates her request. Chiara leans over the counter, looks down at the trio, and explains that the sign is just a joke. The store has neither espresso nor kittens. Heather Anne threatens to sue. Chiara responds cheerily, “Then we’ll see you in court.” Heather Anne hires her dad, a high-powered Athens lawyer, and he files a complaint for her in Clarke County Superior Court seeking either specific performance (i.e., an espresso and a kitten) or damages. What result and why? Would the result be the same if Heather Anne had been accompanied only by her cocker spaniel? Only by her younger brother? If she had told her younger brother to quit following her, but he had ignored her (as usual)? If she had entered alone? Would it have made a difference if she had entered alone, but had paused to say hi to her mother’s brother’s (adult) second cousin, who was in the store shopping, just before making her request? If you were advising the store, would you recommend stocking espresso and kittens? Would the store be exposed to liability if it offered a piece of espresso candy and a kitten eraser to unattended children who demanded satisfaction? (1 hour - 50 points)
