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 and 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, since 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 this function.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

In instance B, the contract would most likely be held void due to a mutual mistake regarding a basic assumption on which the contract was made (the existence of the shipload of fish). Both parties were unaware that the ship had sunk and the fish had been lost at the time of the contract, making the contract voidable due to the mistake.

In Which of the Following Instances Would the Court Most