turano@silver.DEC (Tom Turano DTN 231- [Office 4735, Lab 6978]) (08/28/84)
* The act of getting back a deposit may not be as straight forward as it might seem. When someone puts down a deposit in return for someone else not selling an object this act can be construed as executing an option contract. The consideration in this case is the forbearance to act on the part of the seller. i.e. The seller gives up his right to sell an object to someone else for a specified amount of time. Many jurisdictions have ruled that a "volume seller" (such as a car dealership) undergo detriment when after making a sale are forced to work to sell the same object over again when the original buyer withdraws. Because of this a jurisdiction may rule that sufficient consideration was in fact given by the dealer and therefore the option contract was valid. It should be noted however that any given jurisdiction may have statutes governing this sort of contract and that statutes of this nature are generally implemented to protect the consumer. An attorney should advise you of your rights within your jurisdiction. Tom Turano path: decvax!decwrl!rhea!gold!turano Tue 28-Aug-1984 08:18 EST
faunt@saturn.UUCP (Doug Faunt) (08/29/84)
I have heard stated, and I have heard enough to believe it's true, that the bindingness of a contract is in inverse proportion to the power of the partys involved.