QUESTION
Are texts between two parties considered a contract?
Asked on Apr 17th, 2018 on Breach of Contract - California
More details to this question:
I asked a dog breeder via a text: "If I pay the deposit, will we be 1st choice?" She said, "Yes hon." First choice means that we get to have the first pick of the puppies we're interested in, which were the blue cane corso males. She sent the contract, and I signed it. However no where in the contract does it say of course that we have 1st choice, however in the breeder/buyer world, everyone knows what that means. She never showed us all the puppies that we were to choose from, others picked their puppies BEFORE us, and she picked our puppy for us which she claims is "the biggest one." When it came down to make the final payment, I told her that we never saw all the pups, and we never chose. She said, "Now that it's time to make payment, you have a ton of issues." What? I told her she didn't live up to her part of the deal. I told her that I want my deposit back, and that she can't scam people like that. Now, her contract that I signed says the deposit is non-refundable.
1 ANSWER
The texts between you may well have created an enforceable contract, but it doesn't matter because that agreement was superceded by the written contract you signed subsequently, which controls and contained nothing about "first choice." In fact, just to make things worse, it is likely that the written contract, as many do, provided that it represents the parties' entire understanding and supercedes any prior agreement.
Answered on Apr 18th, 2018 at 12:35 PM