{"id":26115,"date":"2015-02-24T03:39:11","date_gmt":"2015-02-24T03:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rmolaw.com.au\/a-verbal-contract-is-not-worth-the-paper-it-is-written-on-or-is-it\/"},"modified":"2025-02-24T05:18:59","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T05:18:59","slug":"a-verbal-contract-is-not-worth-the-paper-it-is-written-on-or-is-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rmolaw.com.au\/zh\/a-verbal-contract-is-not-worth-the-paper-it-is-written-on-or-is-it\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cA Verbal Contract Is Not Worth the Paper It Is Written On\u201d: Or Is It?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 style=\"font-size: 20.16px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"font-size: 14.4px; color: #555555;\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/afta-mag-article-sc-schot-feb-2015-2.jpg\" \/><\/h3>\n<p>Contracts may be written, oral, or contain a combination of written AND oral terms.<\/p>\n<p>There is often considerable difficulty proving terms which are agreed orally, especially if a dispute ends up in a court or tribunal hearing where the existence of oral terms can often only be proven by evidence given by witnesses in a witness box and subject to cross examination by the other side\u2019s solicitor or barrister.<\/p>\n<p>The logical conclusion \u2013 you should rely on written terms of a contract and not any oral agreement. If you\u2019re going to change the terms of any standard written contract \u2013 do so only in writing not by using or relying on phrases such as \u201cshe\u2019ll be right\u201d, \u201coh we won\u2019t be relying on that\u201d, \u201cignore that bit\u201d, \u201cyou know what we mean **wink, wink, nudge, nudge**\u201d etc.<\/p>\n<h3>Elements Of A Contract<\/h3>\n<p>All of these elements are strictly required and have been for a very long time:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 115%;\">offer (e.g. a catalogue containing a price is an offer to sell at that price),<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 115%;\">acceptance (e.g. the placement of a purchase order contains acceptance of your offer to supply at a known price),<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 115%;\">communication of acceptance (e.g. if a customer takes your standard contract home with them and signs it, but never gives it to you, there is no contract that they can rely upon), and<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 115%;\">consideration which is the price stipulated by you and paid to you by the purchaser in exchange for your goods.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>And If A Contract Is Breached?<\/h3>\n<p>The innocent party (i.e. who hasn\u2019t breached the contract) could seek the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 115%;\">damages \u2013 which is a sum of money designed to put them in the position they would have been in had the contract had not been breached, in other words to compensate them for losses,<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 115%;\">specific performance \u2013 which is an order or direction by a court or tribunal that the party who has breached the contract has to perform their end of the bargain, and<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 115%;\">an injunction \u2013 which can be used to prevent ongoing breaches (e.g. you are ordered to cease trading in breach of a non-competition clause in a franchise contract).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>When To Get Advice<\/h3>\n<p>Solicitors are not cheap and therefore you should limit legal involvement where possible, especially concerning standard contracts.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 100%;\">You should seek legal advice:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 115%;\">when drafting a:<\/span>\n<ul class=\"a\" style=\"padding-left: 1%;\">\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 115%;\">standard employment contract, if you use one, or<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 115%;\">standard contract with installers and customers,<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 115%;\">contracts involving high-value transactions, especially if the deal proposed contains some unusual terms, or terms you are uncertain about,<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 115%;\">if you are being sued, or if it someone is threatening to sue you and there is a significant amount of money involved,<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 115%;\">franchise agreements, partnership agreements, shareholders agreements or any other agreement that is proposed to you which is significant to your future business arrangements, and<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 115%;\">contracts for the purchase or sale of land (in accordance with the usual practice in your state) or other significant asset.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If in doubt \u2013 don\u2019t be a \u201cbush lawyer\u201d! Seek legal advice and know where you stand.<\/p>\n<p>This article appeared in issue 28 of\u00a0\u201cTimber Floors\u201d magazine published by ATFA in February 2015.<\/p>\n<h3>How We Can Help<\/h3>\n<p>Quinn &amp; Scattini Lawyers have assisted countless clients with contract preparation, contract reviews and contract disputes.<\/p>\n<p>Our team has the expertise and experience required to get you the best possible outcome.<\/p>\n<p>As one of our clients said &#8220;<em>Invest in the best. Q&amp;S<\/em>&#8220;.<\/p>\n<h3>\u8054\u7cfb\u6211\u4eec<\/h3>\n<p>Get the best representation. Contact Quinn &amp; Scattini Lawyers on\u00a0<a href=\"tel:1800999529\">1800 999 529<\/a>, email\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:mail@rmold.newwebsite.live\">mail@rmold.newwebsite.live<\/a>, or submit an enquiry below.<\/p>\n<p>We are available to meet with you at any of our local offices (<a href=\"https:\/\/rmold.newwebsite.live\/contact\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Brisbane, Gold Coast, Beenleigh, Cleveland and Jimboomba<\/a>) or by telephone or video-conference.<\/p>\n<p><em>This article is for your information and interest only. It is not intended to be comprehensive, and it does not constitute and must not be relied on as legal advice. You must seek specific advice tailored to your circumstances.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Contracts may be written, oral, or contain a combination of written AND oral terms. There is often considerable difficulty proving terms which are agreed orally, especially if a dispute ends up in a court or tribunal hearing where the existence of oral terms can often only be proven by evidence given by witnesses in a witness box and subject to cross examination by the other side\u2019s solicitor or barrister.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"expertise":[319],"class_list":["post-26115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","expertise-commercial-litigationemployment-law"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmolaw.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmolaw.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmolaw.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmolaw.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmolaw.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26115"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rmolaw.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27074,"href":"https:\/\/rmolaw.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26115\/revisions\/27074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmolaw.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmolaw.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmolaw.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26115"},{"taxonomy":"expertise","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmolaw.com.au\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/expertise?post=26115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}