Question

The Case:

Tom is managing an interior design company called Home Co. Home Co is implementing a project in Danon’s apartment. Based on a contract between the two parties, Home Co has undertaken the work of redecorating the living room in Danon’s apartment and installing a chimney.

Home Co has only one team of three workers who have extensive experience in building up chimneys. Due to an emergency, Tom has decided to dispatch the team to another site. At the same time, Tom wanted to deliver Danon’s project as soon as possible to be able to start up a new project. Consequently, it was decided to send an unexperienced team to Danon’s apartment to install the chimney without the minimum required training. After finishing the installation, one of the team members has put the fire on in the chimney as to test the fireplace. However, on their way out, they did not extinguish the fire properly. In fact, Home Co. team made sure to close tightly all the windows and departed from Danon’s apartment leaving behind them the fire unattended.

In the morning, Danon’s received a phone call informing him that his apartment has burnt out through the night. Danon feels terribly upset. He would like to sue Tom and Home Co company for the damages he has encountered. Tom contacted Danon to apologize and promised him to pay for the damages encountered in case if he promises not to go to court. After negotiations, Danon has accepted not to go to court in exchange of an amount of USD 10,000.

1. a) Danon is having second thoughts about the promise he has made to not to go to court, and he thinks now that the amount of USD 10,000 is not enough to cover the damages. Does Danon have the right to go court to sue Tom and Home Co in this situation? Please explain in detail considering the contract law and the consideration element

2. b) If it was possible for Danon to file a law suit,can Danon sueTom and Home Co based on the tort law for the damages he has encountered and based on which type of tort? Please explain your answer considering the elements of the selected type of tort.

Answer 1

Answer a= The contract is made when there are an offer and acceptance with a certain consideration, When we look at the given case, there was an offer from Tom and Home Co to Danon not to go to court for the recovery of the damage in the return of the sum of $10000 that was accepted by Danon so there is a valid contract between the two parties. Thus it can be stated that Danon does not have the right to approach the court as he accepted the offer presented by Tom and Home Co

Answer b= Yes, Danon can file the lawsuit against Tom and Home Co on the basis of tort of negligence that indicates that the employees of the company were negligent while testing the chimney for the fire and they did not take care of all the care and important steps to ensure that the property does not get damaged. In order to have the tort of negligence, it is important to have the 4 elements which are  1) Duty, 2) Breach, 3) Cause and 4) Harm

I the given case, the company has the duty towards Danon to construct the chimney and to ensure that nothing happens to the property. There was a breach of the contract from the company as they did not take care of the property well and due to the negligence of their employees, the damage occurred to the property of Danon