contract breech

[ls1bandit]

What is the name of your state? CA

Okay, so i frequent a car forum and i stated that i was looking to buy a certain product, a guy sent me a message stating that he had it and that he would sell it to me for xx amount of dollars plus the cost of shipping, i agreed and gave him all of my info and to let me know what the cost of shipping would be. So he agreed to the deal and stated it would take a day to get the part, so a few days go buy and i email him and he said that someone else offered him more money for it so he was backing out of our deal. Now i read up on some case law that stated emails are indeed a valid contract, but the guy lives in the state of texas. What kind of legal recourse do i have here? I know i can sue him for breech of contract but how does it work across state lines?

 

[weenor]

To the extent a "breach" of contract action were to exist, you would have to sue him in texas.

 

[divgradcurl]

What is the name of your state? CA

Okay, so i frequent a car forum and i stated that i was looking to buy a certain product, a guy sent me a message stating that he had it and that he would sell it to me for xx amount of dollars plus the cost of shipping, i agreed and gave him all of my info and to let me know what the cost of shipping would be. So he agreed to the deal and stated it would take a day to get the part, so a few days go buy and i email him and he said that someone else offered him more money for it so he was backing out of our deal. Now i read up on some case law that stated emails are indeed a valid contract, but the guy lives in the state of texas. What kind of legal recourse do i have here? I know i can sue him for breech of contract but how does it work across state lines?

Did you give him any money? Unless you gave him money, there was no "contract" in place to breach in the first place.

 

[ls1bandit]

Did you give him any money? Unless you gave him money, there was no "contract" in place to breach in the first place.

yeah there was a contract, we had an agreement that i would pay for the item. Its just like if i make a verbal contract for something then i back out at the last second, while neithor goods/money/ or services are exchanged, its still a breach of contract.

 

[divgradcurl]

yeah there was a contract, we had an agreement that i would pay for the item. Its just like if i make a verbal contract for something then i back out at the last second, while neithor goods/money/ or services are exchanged, its still a breach of contract.

No, that's not correct. A contract, in order for it to be binding -- requires three elements, offer, acceptance and consideration. You made an offer to buy a part; he accepted. But where is the consideration? Unless you gave him money (thereby creating an "option" contract), or can somehow prove that you suffered some sort of "detriment" (such that a court could find the "relied" on his promise to sell that resulted in a "detriment" to you), then you don't have consideration. And without consideration, all you have is a couple of promises, and the law does not require you, or anyone else, to keep your promises unless they rise to the level of a contract.

Based solely on what you've written, there is no contract here, so no breach of contract.

 

[ls1bandit]

No, that's not correct. A contract, in order for it to be binding -- requires three elements, offer, acceptance and consideration. You made an offer to buy a part; he accepted. But where is the consideration? Unless you gave him money (thereby creating an "option" contract), or can somehow prove that you suffered some sort of "detriment" (such that a court could find the "relied" on his promise to sell that resulted in a "detriment" to you), then you don't have consideration. And without consideration, all you have is a couple of promises, and the law does not require you, or anyone else, to keep your promises unless they rise to the level of a contract.

Based solely on what you've written, there is no contract here, so no breach of contract.

then how has the court upheld verbal contracts as binding?

 

[divgradcurl]

then how has the court upheld verbal contracts as binding?

There's nothing in my response to you that says anything about contracts being "oral" or "written." Oral contracts can be created and enforced -- they are just often hard to prive. But even oral contracts require offer, acceptance, and consideration to create the contract in the first place. An exchange of promises, without more, in this case is insufficient to create a contract.

If you don't believe me, fine -- either hire your own lawyer to get an answer, or head down to Texas and sue the seller in small claims court.