how strong are verbal agreements

[buster38]

Im in illinois and i had some tickets to sell. I talked to alot of people about buying them and didnt have alot of takers on them. I made sure i told everyone first come first serve. I talked to a lady on the phone and she said she wanted them. Even though she told me she was unemployed i said she could have them. Not knowing at the same time my father sold the tickets to another guy. How far will this go. She is threating me with a law suit

 

[divgradcurl]

Im in illinois and i had some tickets to sell. I talked to alot of people about buying them and didnt have alot of takers on them. I made sure i told everyone first come first serve. I talked to a lady on the phone and she said she wanted them. Even though she told me she was unemployed i said she could have them. Not knowing at the same time my father sold the tickets to another guy. How far will this go. She is threating me with a law suit

Don't worry about it. First off, as the old story goes, verbal contracts are worth the paper their written on -- in other words, the tough part about a verbal contract is proving that a contract exists in the first place. Now, if you can prove a verbal contract exists, then in most cases it is just as binding as a written contract -- but, as expected, they can be very hard to prove.

In any event, you don't have a contract here anyway. What you have is an offer -- your offer to sell -- and acceptance -- her acceptance of your offer -- but no "consideration" -- she didn't pay you anything for the tickets. Without consideration, there is no contract.

Let her threaten all she wants. Worst case, she files in small claims, you go, let her try and prove her case. You likely won't have to say a word...