Melody, a famous celebrity, saw a beautiful car in a magazine and suddenly decided to contact a
Question:
Melody, a famous celebrity, saw a beautiful car in a magazine and suddenly decided to contact a friend who can help her get this car. After a referral from the friend, Melody establishes a contract with Hasley to buy a rare car with very nuanced specifications on her behalf, stating that she needed Hasley's expert services because she was told he can source these items at good prices, plus she travels extensively and is too big of a celebrity to take care of this type search and transaction directly. Melody gives Hasley funds to initiate the deal if a car is found, as well as paid Hasley his pre-set finder's fee to source this specific car. Melody also asks Hasley to try and contact her first before making any deals and aim not to reveal her identity to the buyer; the contract language once drawn should state that Hasley is acting on behalf of another party to purchase the car.
With that, Hasley searches for many, many months and finally finds a rare car with all the specifications Melody wanted at Best Cars Co but at a significantly higher price than he thought it would cost. A budget for the car was not discussed with Melody. However, Hasley thought that because she was a very famous and wealthy celebrity, it should not be a concern to purchase at a higher than expected. Throughout the entire time, including now that he found the car, Hasley had been trying to get in touch with Melody to stay connected and even discuss price; however, she was never available. Afraid that he would miss out on this find, Hasley quickly made the deal with Best Cars Co. and applied a down payment on a car using the funds that Hasley gave him to initiate a deal as a start. Hasley asked Best Car Co. to keep the car in their possession as the principal party will have to pay the difference and collect it. Hasley stated this to Best Cars Co. because he was tired of spending so much time on this deal and felt that it had been way too time and labor consuming. He had not been paid enough to deal with this ongoing headache and diva attitude from Hasley and just wanted to end this transaction. After making the down payment, Hasley continued trying to reach Melody directly for an additional month to tell her about the car and contract but still could not get a hold of Melody despite numerous messages. With that, Hasley got fed up and left a final message about the contract with Hasley's business office so he could move on to contracted work with others people with lesser egos. Additionally, Hasley felt that Melody needed a reality check and when a big company like Best Car Co, realizes that the principal is someone as famous as Melody, they would be happy to connect with her directly to close the deal. Hasley had a feeling that Melody was unresponsive because she was trying to wiggle out of this commitment because he learned from another prior client that she can be very impulsive and undecisive.
Three additional months went by and there were no further car payments made, so Best Cars Co. hired a company to find the other party in the contract and became aware that it was Melody, the huge celebrity. That made Best Cars Co. very happy because they could aim to recover the actual cost and additional fees on this depreciating item that they were holding. Best Car Co. then sued Melody for breach of contract requesting the remaining car payments; stated that they will send the car over to Melody at an additional fee because they held on her property for a long time; and charging other expenses for finding the owner and legal processing fees. Melody replied immediately upon notice of this claim which was now almost twice the original car cost and stated that she could not be sued for this because she was not aware of the deal and they should instead seek payment from Hasley because this his fault as he wrongfully failed to ensure that Melody was aware of this deal. Melody also said that she should not be made to pay for a car she did not have in his possession at the time of the lawsuit.
Is Melody correct or is Best Car Co. able recover all payments, expenses and fees from Melody and send her the car? Explain.
A Concise Introduction to Logic
ISBN: 978-1305958098
13th edition
Authors: Patrick J. Hurley, Lori Watson