By Kerry Branch
Genie bottles were all the rage among the local Witches' Coven. Samantha decided to throw a genie bottle party (kind of like a tupperware party for witches) to see if she couldn't make some extra money to buy Darren an extra-special birthday present. She had plenty of experience in buying and selling of witches' goods because that was what she had done before she met Darren and still participated on the sly (her last broomstick sale was a roaring success). Samantha called Jeannie who was the head of the I Dream of Genie Bottles Company and arranged to meet her on the 13th of October to discuss purchasing some bottles. Samantha went to Jeannie's office and they there hammered out a deal for 300 purple and pink bottles at $5 per bottle to be delivered at Samantha's home on November 15. "Now, Jeannie, are you sure you won't forget about this?" Samantha asked concerned. "Here, let me write it down so you can remember. This is really important order." So Samantha wrote down the terms and signed her name to it. "There you go. Now you can have something to refer to." "But you totally misspelled my name. It's not 'Jennie,' it's 'Jeannie.'" So Jeannie added the needed "a" and sighed with satisfaction. "Oh, that is much better. I'll get to work on these right away." They shook hands and Samanth left. QUESTION 1: If Jeannie breached and did not deliver the goods as promised, could Samantha get the agreement enforced? When Samantha talked to a few of her friends and invited them to her bottle party, some acted rather dismayed w/the color choice and asked if it wasn't possible to get the bottles in purple and black. So, on November 1, Samantha hurriedly twitched her nose and popped over to Jeannie's office. "Jeannie, I need to change that order. It's just a small thing, really. Can I get those bottles in purple and black instead of purple and pink?" "Oh, I don't know...," Jeannie said, pouting slightly. "Look I really need those bottles in purple and black. I can't sell the pink and purple." QUESTION 2: If Jeannie is unable to change the order at this time, can Jeannie get the original agreement enforced? "That's going to require a lot of blinking, nodding, and pony-tail swinging to change the colors on all of those bottles. I could get whiplash!" Jeannie complained. "Look, what if I promise you an additional 5% of my net profit for changing the colors. Let's see....That would work out to about $500! That's a lot of extra cash for you." jeannie thought about it for a minute. "How about 5% of your gross profit?" Samantha was incredulous. " I don't think so. That's more than I can afford. What about 7% of my net profit? That's my final offer." "Okay. I'll take it. I'll get to work changing the colors right away!" "Great. See you later." SCENARIO 1: Jeannie delivers the bottles alright, but they're all pink and purple! Samantha is totally disgusted and is only able to sell about 100 of the 300. What kind of legal remedy, if any, would Samantha be entitled to? SCENARIO 2: Jeannie blinks, nods, and swings her pony-tail 300 times to change the colors. Her neck is killing her. She has to go buy Motrin, a heating-pad, and see a chiropractor 5 times. Samantha only pays her the money promised originally, ignoring the subsequent promise of the 7% bonus. Can Jeannie recover? What if Samantha only pays her 5%? What if Samantha drew up a new contract for purple and black bottles and told Jeannie to sign it or she would turn her into a toad? Jeannie signed it because she doesn't look good in green. Jeannie doesn't perform and only gives the pink and purple bottles. Is the subsequent contract enforceable?