Litigation

Superior Court: Oral Contract Created By Contractor's Representations

By Morris James LLP

MAA Real Estate LLC v. Patel, C.A. No. 06C-02-249 (Del. Super. Ct. Dec. 7, 2007).

In this breach of contract action, there was no written agreement, only an unsigned pricing sheet prepared by the contractor making the repairs. The court had to determine whether the parties nonetheless mutually assented to any of the terms on the sheet or otherwise entered into an oral contract.

The court held that there was no mutual assent to the items on the pricing sheet, as it did not state the specific materials required to complete the renovation. The customer could only show that the contractor represented that he would install non-skid tile flooring. That created an oral contract. By failing to install non-skid tile, the contractor breached the agreement.

The measure of damages was the cost of replacement and repair for the proper flooring.

Full post as published by Delaware Business Litigation Report on January 14, 2008 (boomark / email).