Answer to Question #106496 in Law for Gaurav

Question

Fitness plaza placed an advertisement on its website. The advertisement provided: get a one-year membership at fitness plaza and swim four hundred consecutive metres in one of our pool and will be rewarded with a free membership for your spouse. Mr. X received an annual free membership at fitness plaza, having won a competition run by local supermarket. He successfully ran 400 metres which was reported on local television. However, owing to bad publicity fitness plaza withdrew its membership campaign. Further, Mr. X was subsequently refused free membership for his spouse on the ground that he had not paid for his own membership. He instituted a suit against fitness plaza for breach of contract. Does Mr. X have a valid claim?

Answer 1

Yes, Mr. X has a valid claim in the matter. For a contract to be valid there must be an offer, acceptance, and consideration. The consideration must be executor or executed but not past for it to be considered as a valid consideration. A breach of contract therefore occurs when one party refuses to perform under the contract promised. In order to prove breach of contract, one must prove that the contract was enforceable, performance of the contract, breach of that contract and the actual damages of that breach. A gift is a voluntary and gratuitous transfer of property from one person to another, without something of value promised in return. Failure to follow through on a promise to make a gift is not enforceable as a breach of contract because there is no consideration for the promise. For a valid gift to be determined there must be an intent on the part of a donor having capacity to contract, to make an unconditional gift, there must be an actual or symbolical delivery, such as to relinquish all control by the donor and the donee must signify acceptance, except where it may be presumed. If, following the formation of the contract the party which made the promise fails to perform the promise then a legal action can be brought to enforce the contract. If the offering party keeps their promise, and the consideration is not delivered then they may sue to enforce the contract and recover the contract price.