Exam 15: Consideration

A promise to make a gift is enforceable.

Consideration is not required in:

A binding contract cannot contain a cancellation provision.

The fact that the consideration supplied by one party is slight when compared with the burden undertaken by the other party is immaterial.

Forbearance may constitute consideration.

In a contract for the sale of goods,any modification made by the parties to the contract must be supported by consideration to be binding.

In most states,promises made to another based on moral obligation lack consideration and are not enforceable.

The doctrine of promissory estoppel is also known as the doctrine of beneficial reliance.

A landowner's promise to pay a contractor a bonus to complete construction of a building according to the terms of a pre-existing contract between the landowner and the contractor is:

One promise may serve as consideration for many return promises.

Past benefits already received by a promisor cannot be consideration for a later promise.

A second promise to pay a contractor a higher amount on the original contract may be enforceable.

Consideration is the bargained-for exchange between the parties to a contract.

A promise that in fact does not impose any obligation on the promisor is known as an elusive promise.

Under the doctrine of promissory estoppel,a promisor may be prevented from asserting that his or her promise is unenforceable because the promisee gave no consideration for the promise.

Ordinarily,doing or promising to do what one is already under a legal obligation to do is not consideration.

Gerwin's daughter Mary was seeking a position as an associate attorney with Baker,Charles & Dixon,a large metropolitan law firm.The firm,after several meetings with Mary over a two-month period,made Mary an offer of employment on January 15.Mary accepted the offer that day and immediately left for Cape Cod to celebrate without telling Gerwin or anyone else about her new job. On January 17,two days after Mary had accepted the offer,Gerwin sent Baker,Charles & Dixon a letter in which she offered to give Baker all of her legal business (approximately $40,000 per year)if the law firm would hire Mary.The law firm accepted. After Gerwin learned that Mary already had been hired by Baker,Charles & Dixon,Gerwin refused to transfer her business to the law firm.The law firm has brought suit against Gerwin on the grounds that a valid contract exists between them.How will the case be decided?

If a merchant receives and cashes a check for partial payment of a debt and the check bears the notation that the amount is in full payment of a disputed sum,the total debt is released.

Consideration is:

The promise of a creditor to refrain from collecting a debt is consideration for a promise by the debtor to modify the terms of the transaction.