The Student Room Group

Contract law - URGENT HELP

Mistake or Misrep

If B signs a contract for purchasing a business believing employee C is part of the deal. A assures B ;that C will not work for another business, but is ill. After signing contract, B discovers C retired a week earlier.

employee C was not a term.
is this is a mistake? if so what type,or is this is a misrep, why?
URGENT
There is not enough information to answer your question adequately. But here is my take on the question based on the limited set of facts.

If B signs a contract for purchasing a business believing employee C is part of the deal, whereas A does not believe that employee C is part of the deal, then it is a unilateral mistake. Whether the unilateral mistake is operative depends on whether A knows that B was mistaken in B's belief that employee C is part of the deal.

"A assures B ;that C will not work for another business, but is ill.": If this is untrue then this is a misrepresentation. A misrepresentation is an untrue or misleading statement of fact made during contractual negotiations inducing another party into the contract. There are three main types of misrepresentation, fraudulent, negligent, and innocent. Here, there are not enough facts to conclude either way.
Original post by lolking70
A assures B ;that C will not work for another business, but is ill.


Of course, on a strict reading, this could be true alongside the fact that C is retired. If C is retired he won't work for another business, and lots of retired people are ill.

However, in almost every imaginable exchange in which this representation is given it would also be represented that C works for the company. The likelihood is that, taking the above representation in context, it carried an implicit representation, if it wasn't also explicitly stated, that C worked for the company.

'Almost every', though. The question can't really be answered without more context. Probably they're looking for you to identify and explore this.
Original post by TimmonaPortella
Of course, on a strict reading, this could be true alongside the fact that C is retired. If C is retired he won't work for another business, and lots of retired people are ill.

However, in almost every imaginable exchange in which this representation is given it would also be represented that C works for the company. The likelihood is that, taking the above representation in context, it carried an implicit representation, if it wasn't also explicitly stated, that C worked for the company.

'Almost every', though. The question can't really be answered without more context. Probably they're looking for you to identify and explore this.


Yeah. There could be a strong business reason for not wanting C to work for another company but not be too bothered if C retires. If you simply don't want a rival to have a skilled worker like C on their team.
Original post by Notoriety
Yeah. There could be a strong business reason for not wanting C to work for another company but not be too bothered if C retires. If you simply don't want a rival to have a skilled worker like C on their team.


True. I think the 'but is ill' part is significant though. No obvious reason to say he's ill unless he's coming back. Particularly not following a 'but'.

Quick Reply

Latest