1.
Claire, a renowned artist, had previously painted a portrait
of her neighbor, Helen, free of charge, as a personal
gesture. Several years later, Claire’s business partner,
James, approached Helen with a proposal. He said, "If you
pay Claire UGX 20,000,000, she will sign a licensing
agreement for the portrait, and you will be allowed to use
the image for promotional materials." Helen agrees and
pays James the UGX 20,000,000. However, Claire later
refuses to sign the licensing agreement, stating that she
never agreed to the arrangement and that the consideration
was insufficient. Advise Helen on whether she has a valid
claim for enforcement of the agreement.
2. John and Maria, business partners, agree that Maria will
sell John her antique watch for UGX 1,000,000. After the
sale, John discovers that the watch is only worth UGX
200,000 in the market. Feeling dissatisfied, John claims the
agreement should be void because the consideration was
too low and unfair. He argues that the court should interfere
to ensure fairness, pointing out that Maria took advantage
of him due to his lack of knowledge about the true value of
the watch. Advise John
3. As part of his work duties, Daniel, an employee of XYZ
Company, is responsible for ensuring the security of
company premises after office hours. One evening, Daniel
receives a call from his manager, Sarah, who offers to pay
him an additional UGX 500,000 if he works overtime that
evening to check the premises after a security alarm goes
off. Daniel agrees and performs the overtime duties.
Afterward, Sarah refuses to pay the extra UGX 500,000,
stating that Daniel was already contractually obligated to do
the security checks as part of his normal duties. Advise
Daniel
4. Linda owes Martin UGX 500,000, which was due under a
signed contract. One day, Linda offers to pay only UGX
250,000 in exchange for Martin agreeing to discharge the
entire debt. Martin agrees to the proposal, and they make a
new agreement based on Linda’s partial payment. Later,
Martin attempts to sue Linda for the remaining UGX
250,000, arguing that the new agreement was not
supported by valid consideration because the original debt
was already due. Linda insists that her partial payment was
valid consideration and that she has already fulfilled her
part of the agreement. Advise Martin
5. Timothy is a well-known writer who owes an outstanding
sum of money to a creditor, Ethan. Ethan agrees to reduce
the amount owed if Timothy agrees to refrain from writing a
certain article that he believes will harm Ethan’s business
interests. Timothy agrees to Ethan’s request and refrains
from publishing the article. However, after a few months,
Timothy wants to rescind the agreement, arguing that
forbearance (the act of refraining from an action) does not
constitute sufficient consideration for the modification of
the debt. Discuss whether Timothy’s forbearance from
publishing the article constitutes valid consideration for the
modification of the debt.
