Case No. 55 CONTRACTUAL CAPACITY /MINORS Appellate Term, Second Department 22 N.
ID: 367515 • Letter: C
Question
Case No. 55 CONTRACTUAL CAPACITY /MINORS Appellate Term, Second Department 22 N.Y.S.2d 107 (1962) Northern Rodriguez (Rodriguez) purchased a car from Defendant yM FACTS: Plaintiff Anna Rodriguez (Rodriguez) a minot Auto Auction, Inc. Northern Auto). At the time of the purchase Rodriguez was a affirm, Some time after she purchased the car and within the legally permissible time to Rodriguez notified Northern she no longer wanted the car. In this lawsuit she sou return the car and obtain reimbursement of the purchase price. FIRST ISSUE: Is a minor entitled to disaffirm a contract? DECISION: Yes. REASONING: A minor is generally entitled to disaffirm contracts to which minor is party SECOND ISSUE: Is a party who avoids a contract for the purchase of a car on the basis of minority entitled to reimbursement of all money paid for, the car? DECISION: No, but the minor may be entitled to receive a portion of the money paid REASONING: When a minor disaffirms a contract for the sale of a car, the minor is liabl to the seller for any deterioration of the car that occurred when the minor used it. Th minor is entitled to reimbursement of the money paid in excess of the deterioration.Explanation / Answer
First, let us understand what disaffirm means - To disaffirm means to declare void. The given case is about a minor who chooses to negate the contract that she got into when she was a minor.
Q1. The public policy reasons for allowing a minor to disaffirm a contract is that a minor might not fully know the consequences of the contract. A contract typically has a lot of fine print which would be to be read through very carefully to understand all the clauses involved, the liabilities of each party, and what exactly is the scope of the contract. A minor cannot be expected to understand all the clauses in a contract and might end up getting exploited. This is the main reason why minors are allowed to disaffirm themselves from certain select contracts. However, obviously there are exceptions - if a minor is allowed to disaffirm all contracts then no one would want to enter into a contract with a minor. By and large, the reason why a minor is allowed to disaffirm a contract is so that the chances of exploiting the minor is minimal.
Q2. Once a minor becomes a major, if they choose to disaffirm a contract, it should be done within a reasonable frame of time. The general acceptable time frame for disaffirming a contract is 2 years. This is understandable because you cannot have a minor turned major enjoying all the benefits of the contract and returning after, say, 10 years just to say they don't want the contract anymore. Hence, this clause of allowing contract disaffirmations within a reasonable time frame has been introduced.