In which of the following instances would the court most likely hold the contract to be void on the basis of a mistake?
A) Barry and Mary contracted for the sale and purchase of a boat for the price of $1200. When the contract was written up the price was incorrectly stated as $1700.
B) Two parties contracted for a shipload of fish, but unknown to both parties, at the time of the contract the ship had sunk and the fish had been lost.
C) Carson and Leno had a serious misunderstanding about a term in the contract; the court found that the more reasonable interpretation was that of Leno.
D) Sarah bought three rolls of wallpaper, but found she had made a mistake; two would have been sufficient.
E) Although the seller said nothing to the buyer about the characteristics of the answering machine, the buyer bought it, thinking that it would tell him the date and time of the call. Later, he learned that it did not perform that function.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

In this situation, both parties were mistaken about the subject matter of the contract (the shipload of fish no longer existed) at the time the contract was formed. This type of mistake is known as a mutual mistake, and it would likely make the contract void. In contrast, the mistakes in the other answer choices are not mutual mistakes or are not serious enough to render the contract void.

In Which of the Following Instances Would the Court Most