Contrack Law : Fraud; Undue Influence; Duress; Damages and Remedies - Assignment Example

For instance, if a supplier remodels a car belonging to a customer and claims it is insured, despite its full contrary knowledge can amount to fraud. Such condition is normally referred to as intentional cover up. Fraud invalidates a contract because it is injurious to the victim party, and goes against the norm of utmost sincerity in the contract. Undue Influence Undue influence is an illegal manipulation of one person’s mind or party’s intent to adopt a perception similar to the inducer.

Generally, it happens in two circumstances. First, when a person capitalizes on the psychological limitations of another, with the aim of swaying that individual to consent to an agreement to which, under standard circumstances, the person would not agree. The second case involves undue influence premised on a fiduciary link that subsists between the parties to a contract (Yu, &Yu, 2011). This takes place when one party enjoys a better position in terms of trust and poise relative to the other, as in professional-client cases.

For instance, a professional lawyer may impose undue influence on businessman who barely has any knowledge of law, to enter into contract with him or her so that the lawyer can give legal advice on running a small business that may not need the constant services of an attorney. Nonetheless, mere legitimate urging that do not impact free will is not be classified as undue influence and has no impact on the validity of an agreement (Markovits, & Schwartz, 2011). Duress Duress encompasses intimidation by a party that induces another to do something, such as appending signature on a contract, which they would not have engaged in voluntarily (Markovits, & Schwartz, 2011).

Duress results in the lack of a consensus between the parties and, invalidates any contract. Blackmail, intimidation and the use of physical force, or threats to sue, in an offensive manner can be construed as duress (Triantis, 2010). Most jurisdictions, however, are in a compromise that the threat to begin justifiable court cases becomes unlawful when executed with the dishonest intent to compel a business transaction that is completely unrelated to such cases and is deemed vilely unfair to the injured party.

An agreement that is compelled by duress is either invalid or can be invalidated. In business, duress can happen if a supplier compels a client company to sign a contract for the supply of raw-materials, failure to which it would begin legal proceedings against the client for unfair treatment of its employees. Damages and remedies According to Yu and Yu (2011), based on the extent or dimension of the breach, a victim may have multiple damages and remedies under common law. The remedies are not cast in stone; they may be modified if the victim has also violated the agreement.

Damages are in form of money and are granted to the injured party. Compensatory damages and liquidation damages are examples of damages ordered by a court. Whereas, compensatory damages to the injured party are meant to reverse the losses caused by a breach of contract, liquidation damages are clearly envisaged in the original agreement. Liquidation damages may be ordered by court when damages may not be easily foreseen and must be a reasonable ballpark figure of the probable scale of the damages in case of a violation (Levmore, 2009).

Compensatory damages are imposed by a court of law. Remedies rectify the damages caused by a breach of contract. Some of the remedies include; specific performance and