1. Staples, following extensive injuries in an automobile accident, was declared mentally incompetent. He imagined himself to be in command of a large army engaged in protecting the country against an invasion. He ordered several large tents, sleeping bags, and other military supplies from a firm that specialized in selling such goods. When he failed to pay for the goods, the firm attempted to seize Staples’s bank deposits and his disability pension. Will the military supply firm be successful in its attempt to secure payment?
2. Doran, a young man of 17, married a 17-year-old woman. After the wedding they moved to another city, where they both found work and began to buy furniture and appliances. When they realized that they had been unwise in some of their purchases, they attempted to rescind the contracts, claiming they were minors. Will the Dorans be successful in avoiding the contracts?
3. Ortelere, a retired teacher, had built up a substantial amount of funds in her retirement plan before she retired because of “involutional psychosis” (a form of mental illness). She had previously specified that a lowered monthly retirement benefit would be paid to her so that her husband would get some benefit from the retirement plan if she died before he did. After her mental problems began, she changed her payout plan and borrowed from the pension fund. As a consequence of the changes she made, her husband lost his rights to benefits. Two months after she made the changes, she died. The husband sued to reverse the changes his wife had made, claiming that she was not of sound mind when she made them. Will the changes in the plan be voided?