Business Law Court Case

Court Case

I went to the small claims court in Middletown on October 24, 2005. The case that I heard was case # SCAM-108884, Anesthesiologists of Middletown vs. Barrett. The plaintiff in this case was the Anesthesiologists of Middletown which were suing for payment of contract. The total that they were suing for, $465.00 was for the payment of the services they had provided which was $430.00, and for the $35.00 entry fee into court. They said that Mrs. Barrett had used their services and signed a contract of payment but had not paid after being billed. After not receiving payment after a few bills were sent, the plaintiff file a motion for order of payments. The defendant was Sharon Barrett, who was being sued for the money she owed. She said that she only received one bill and didn't have the money to pay it in full so she didn't. She also said that the contract did not say when she had to pay the bill by.

A contract is a promise that the law will enforce. The law provides remedies if a promise is breached or recognizes the performance of a promise as a duty. Contracts arise when a duty does or may come into existence, because of a promise made by one of the parties. To be legally binding to a contract, a promise must be exchanged for consideration. Adequate consideration is a benefit or detriment which a party receives and reasonably and fairly induces them to make the promise/contract. For example, promises that are purely gifts are not considered enforceable because the personal satisfaction the grantor of the promise may receive from the act of giving is normally not considered adequate consideration. Certain promises that are not considered contracts may, in limited circumstances, be enforced if one party has relied to his detriment on the assurances of the other party. Contracts are mainly governed by state statutory and common law and private law. Private law principally includes the terms of the agreement between the parties who are exchanging promises. This private law may override many of the rules otherwise established by state law. Statutory law may require some contracts be put in writing and executed with particular formalities. Otherwise, the parties may enter into a binding agreement without signing a formal written document.

The contract in this case contained all four elements of a contract: agreement, consideration, capacity, and legality. The agreement of this contract