Question

Mark says to John “I will pay you $5,000.00 if you put new siding on my house.” John begins the job the following Monday. Once he is finished, Mark refuses to pay him any money for the job stating that he and John did not have a valid contract. What are the elements of a valid contract? Did the parties have one and if so, what kind was it? What remedies, if any, does John have to be paid?

Answer 1

answer-

The elements of valid contract are-

Offer and Acceptance

Basically, a contract unfolds when an offer by one party is accepted by the other party . The accepted offer should be without any qualification and be definite. An offer needs to be clear, definite, complete and final. It should be communicated to the offeree. A proposal when accepted becomes a promise or agreement

Capacity to Contract

If an agreement is entered between parties who are competent enough to contract, then the agreement becomes a contract.

Genuine and Free Consent

Free consent is another essential element of a valid contract. An agreement must have been made by free consent of the parties. The contract would be void in case of mutual mistakes. When consent is obtained by unfair means, the contract would be voidable.

Lawful Object

Objectives of an agreement should be lawful. It must not be illegal or immoral or opposed to public policy. It is lawful unless it is forbidden by law. When the object of a contract is not lawful, the contract is void.

Lawful Consideration

Something in return is Consideration. In every contract, agreement must be supported by consideration. It must be lawful and real.

Certainty and Possibility of Performance

The agreements, in which the meaning is uncertain or if the agreement is not capable of being made certain, it is deemed void. T&C of the contract should always be certain and cannot be vague.

if we see above elements of a valid contract then Mark and John had valid contract because-

John and Mark are both parties in which Mark offers the promise to John and John accepted the promise.

John and Mark are both competent to enter into the contract.

there was proper consideration of $ 5,000.00 for performing the task to put new siding on Mark's house.

The object was not illegal

so, there was valid contract between them and it was Oral contract because Mark made the promise by saying with his mouth as there was no written proof for that.

following are the remedies for John in the court of law has-

File Lawsuit against the Mark to get the compensation or recover the loss suffered by John.

Compensatory damages aim to put the non-breaching party in the position that they had been if the breach had not occurred

Punitive damages are payments that the breaching party must make, above and beyond the point that would fully compensate the non-breaching party. Punitive damages are meant to punish a wrongful party for particularly wrongful acts, and are rarely awarded in the business contracts setting.