Nature Provides a Contracts Hypo

The facts of this case are almost perfect but not quite.  I plan to tweak it and work it into my sales class.  The actual facts are that a buyer contracted to purchase a used truck in “mint condition” for $9400.  Just as the buyer was driving up to pay for the truck, a deer, no doubt in training for the US hurdling team, soared through the air over two other parked cars and landed on the bed of the truck.  It didn’t exactly stick the landing, as it collided with the side of the truck, doing nearly $1000 of damage.  If it were a different species, I could say that it rammed the truck, but we’re above those sorts of cheesy puns on this blog.  It was all captured on video, and this deer is awesome! 

Moreover, you can actually see the buyer opening his car door just as the deer slams into the truck he is about to buy.   In a ContractsProf Blog exclusive, we are excited to report that the buyer, upon seeing the deer exclaimed,

“D’oh!  A deer!”

And the dumbfounded teenager on the driveway adds, “A female deer!” 

And I know, you’re thinking, “That’s not accurate.” 

Fair enough, I suppose it could have been a young male deer, but that’s what our spot reporter heard them say.

The timing makes the hypo a little too straightforward for a sales course.  Although the parties have an agreement, and the good has been identified to the contract, no tender of payment or delivery has been made, and so the risk of loss is clearly with the seller.  The harm to the truck will fall to the seller.  But we can play with the timing, play with delivery/acceptance, introduce a third-party delivery service, and I think I may have a vehicle (ha!) for making delivery terms less mind-numbingly dull.