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Contracts II Exam 2 hours Professor Bridgeman Spring Semester 2009 INSTRUCTIONS 1. This exam has 1 question and 3 pages, including this cover page. You have two hours to complete the exam. 2. The exam will be graded blindly. Do not in any way identify yourself other than with the identification number the College of Law has assigned to you. Doing so is an honor code violation and will be treated accordingly. 3. If you are using blue books, place your identification number on each blue book. Please write legibly, and only on one side of the page. Depending on your handwriting it may be a good idea to skip lines as well. 4. The examination is open book; you may use any written materials you wish. You may not, however, use any computerized source, whether on-line or not. Be sure to print out any materials stored on your computer that you may need before the exam begins. Computers may be used to type exams in accordance with Willamette’s policies and using only the software authorized by the College of Law. 5. The exam will be graded for content, not form, but you should work towards concise, well-organized answers. If relevant information is missing from a question, identify what you must learn and explain why it is relevant to the problem at hand. Do not spend too much time on trivial issues at the expense of harder ones. 6. Answer all questions based on your knowledge of the Uniform Commercial Code and general principles of common law. When dealing with issues that are treated differently in different jurisdictions, assume that the question is one of first impression in your jurisdiction. 7. Avoid using abbreviations unless they are absolutely clear and unambiguous. 8. Good luck, and have a great summer! [Some of you may recognize the following names from a popular TV show called Arrested Development. Okay, maybe it wasn’t that popular, seeing as how it was cancelled after only three seasons. Anyway, I draw on the names and characters there for amusement only (mine, mainly, since you probably won’t find it that amusing). If you have seen the show, do not draw any inferences from it in answering the following problem; treat the facts on their own. If you haven’t seen the show, you really should, but for now don’t worry about it as it wouldn’t help you answer the problem anyway. One last thing: although in the show the characters are related, for our purposes assume they are not related unless otherwise stated even though many of them have the same last name. I didn’t want to change the names, so pretend it’s just a huge coincidence.] Gob Bluth, a magician, had a magic performance coming up. The show was potentially of huge importance for his career; he had been hired by Tony Wonder, a leading magician, to be an opening act. But due to a previous feud, Tony had already told him this would be his “last chance,” and that if he did not do well then Tony would personally see to it that he never worked as a magician in town again. Gob’s initial plan was to make a seal disappear. He ordered a seal from Barry Zuckerkorn’s Aquatic Animals, but when it showed up it turned out that the seal was quite ill-tempered and hard to control. He tried to return the seal to Barry, but Barry was already mad at Gob and wouldn’t take it back. The seal had cost Barry three times as much as he had expected because of a new tax on exotic animals, a tax that Barry felt that Gob ought to have to pay, but that Gob refused to pay. As it happens, after being released the seal ran into Buster Bluth while Buster was out for a swim and bit his hand off. Since the seal illusion wasn’t going to work, Gob decided to make a person disappear instead. He hired a person he thought was Oscar Bluth to be the one he made disappear. In fact, the person was actually George Bluth, Oscar’s twin brother. Gob knew both Oscar and George, but had been pretty sure this was Oscar because George was supposed to be in jail. In fact, George had escaped and was on the run from the law. When Gob called him “Oscar” George did not correct him, seeing the illusion as a perfect chance to elude the authorities. That night, Gob saw on the news that George had escaped from jail, and began to wonder just who he had been talking to. Meanwhile, Buster decided to order a prosthetic to replace the hand the seal had bitten off so that he wouldn’t feel like such “a monster.” He ordered a rubber, flesh- colored, dishwasher-safe prosthetic from Lindsey Bluth. But instead Lindsey shipped a shiny, titanium hook. Buster tried the hook on and it fit, but he immediately began cutting himself, others, and basically anything he touched with the hook. Horrified, he called Lindsey, demanding to know why she sent the wrong prosthetic, telling her “Now I’m a monster and half-machine!” Lindsey explained that the hook was actually more expensive and more functional, but that she would send him the rubber hand if he would send the hook back. Buster told her that he just wanted his money back, and besides, he had accidentally blackened the hook when using it to lift his cornballer, an appliance used to fry food that gets exceptionally hot on the outside. When he told her about all the scratches, she directed his attention to a clause on the website from which he had ordered that disclaimed all liability beyond the price of the item ordered. Across town, Tobias Funk, an aspiring actor, happened to meet Carl Weathers, an experienced actor from numerous action movies, on the bus one day. Tobias mentioned how he himself was an aspiring actor looking to take lessons, and Carl offered to give him lessons. Carl claimed that he had years of experience as a teacher, though in fact he had no experience teaching at all. Tobias hired Carl for six months of lessons. Carl had his attorney, Bob Loblaw (of Bob Loblaw’s Law Blog) draw up a contract for them. It included a clause stating that the written document was the entirety of their agreement, and that no representations had been made by either party prior to the writing that weren’t contained in the writing. Soon after signing the contract, though, Tobias got an acting job with the Blue Man Group and decided he didn’t need the lessons. He told his nephew, George Michael Bluth, that he could have his lessons if he wanted. George Michael, who was in a school play and needed lessons, gladly accepted. But when he showed up for the first lesson Carl demanded payment up front, money George Michael did not have. Carl refused to teach George Michael, and told him that both George Michael and Tobias would be hearing from his attorney, Bob Loblaw (of Bob Loblaw’s Law Blog). Finally, Michael Bluth was the owner and operator of a banana stand, which sold frozen bananas to tourists on the boardwalk. In order to increase business, he decided to introduce a new product, Bananas Foster Flambé, a sugary desert with fried bananas that were lit on fire momentarily as served. Worried about the risk of fire, he approached Gob and asked Gob if he still knew those firemen that Michael had seen Gob with before. Gob said he did, and Michael asked if Michael could hire them for the banana stand. In fact, the “firemen” were male strippers Gob had met doing magic shows who simply dressed up (at first) as firemen. Gob did not know about Michael’s misunderstanding or that Michael wanted real firemen; he thought Michael simply wanted entertainment for the banana stand. Gob agreed to provide the “firemen.” But when they showed up and started stripping the workers in the banana stand were so distracted that they actually set the banana stand on fire. The firemen were unable to put the fire out (not only did they have no training, they were also practically naked at that point), and the fire destroyed not only the banana stand but also Bob Loblaw’s (of Bob Loblaw’s Law Blog) office next door. Nevertheless, the firemen/strippers later insisted that they should be paid by Michael for the rest of their contract, which was for at least one month. Michael, who no longer had a banana stand and didn’t want strippers anyway, refused to pay them. Discuss the contract and contract-related issues in these facts. .

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