First Principles of Business Law

Performance and breach of contract

3. Discharge of a contract by performance

3.5. Divisible contracts

 

 

 

Read the facts and the question and then choose the best answer.

A, a contractor, enters into a contract with B for A to fix the leaks in the roof of B's house (which will cost $1000), and then paint the roof, which will cost a further $4000. The agreement is that A will complete the repairs and the painting within a month and that B will pay A $5,000 when A completes the entire job. A fixes the leaks in the roof, but then tells B that he cannot paint it. A wants to enforce payment for the repairs to the roof, saying that this part of the agreement was a separate contract from the agreement to paint the roof.

Is A entitled to be paid for the repairs to the roof without completing the painting job?

(a) Yes. In this case there are two separate agreements that A can enforce independently of each other.

(b) No. In this case there is in fact one single, indivisible contract and it can be enforced by A only when he has completed all parts of it.

 

 

 

 

 

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