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Jackie, a wealthy movie actress from Hollywood, decided to leavethe busy city and move to peaceful northern California. Whenlooking for a house, Jackie decided to look at wine country, NapaValley. In the center of Napa Valley, Jackie found one of a kindcastle with acres of vineyards, the castle had 100 year-old coloredstones no longer available on the market. Jackie contacted theseller, Danny, and asked Danny what the price was. Danny statedthat the price was ten million dollars ($10,000,000) but he alreadyhad an offer from his friend, Paul, for eight million dollars($8,000,000). Anxious about assuring the property, Jackie offeredDanny one thousand dollars ($1000) to keep the offer of ten milliondollars ($10,000,000) open for a month. Not having a better offerDanny agreed. A day later, Paul heard about Jackie’s offer anddecided to offer Danny eleven million dollars ($11,000,000) cashbut Danny had to move out by the end of the week and accept theoffer by the end of the day. Excited about the possibility of beingable to finish the sale, Danny verbally accepted Paul’s offer andtold Paul, “I don’t need to move, the castle is already move inready.” The next day, Paul hired a moving company and began to moveall his furniture, clothes, and personal belongs. Paul also noticedthat the back porch was not big enough so he built a new porch withauthentic California redwood. Besides building a new porch, Paulalso painted the interior of the castle a lighter color.
When Jackie found out that Danny sold the property to Paul,Jackie got upset and told Danny, “I will find the best lawyer inCalifornia and sue you!” Danny replied to Jackie, “I have the rightto revoke my offer whenever I want to, I will mail you a check withyour one thousand dollars.” After only being in the castle forthree weeks, Paul gets a call from Danny. Danny stated that he willhave to cancel the property contract because the selling of thecastle has only caused problems. Danny states that the contract wasnever in writing and Paul cannot ask a court to enforce it.
Paul comes to your office and is wondering whether there are anydefenses that Danny may bring up to stop theenforcement of the contract? He wants to make sure thatDanny cannot stop him from keeping the Napa Valley Castle.
