Posted: December 16th, 2022

According to the book (page 191)

Business Law
what about the responses for the 2 classmates
n :. According to the book (page 191), four requirements make a contract valid. One is that there has to be an agreement, meaning offer and acceptance. When the ticket is handed to you and you take it without objections, then this requirement is fulfilled. Second, there needs to be consideration. You are being offered a place to park in exchange for accepting the terms of the ticket. Third, contractual capacity. If you have the mental ability to understand the terms being stated in the ticket, then it is valid. Fourth is legality. Since the terms of the ticket don’t include any illegal activity, then it is a contract.
However, does that mean that if your car gets stolen on that parking garage that the Medical Center has no obligations? It depends. One example is whether the parking situation was a bailment or a lease. A bailment is when the keys to the car are handed to a valet, who will then park the car en retain the keys. In this case, they do have an obligation to keep your car safe against damages or theft (https://www.maggianolaw.com/is-a-parking-garage-responsible-for-damaged-or-stolen-cars/ (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)). On the other hand, a lease is where you park the car yourself and keep your keys. In which case the Medical Center would not be liable for damages or stolen property.
b: The Mount Sinai parking ticket in my opinion is a contract. First, I want to provide the definition of a contract based on what Cross and Miller present in the book “The Legal Environment of Business”. They explain that a contract is an agreement that can be enforced in court. It is formed by two or more parties who agree to perform or to refrain from perform some act now or in the future. The parking ticket is formed by two parties the institution (Mount Sinai) and the owner of the car (Mount Sinai customer). In this type of contract the institution is refraining to perform an act in the future, it is stating that if any accident, fire, loss, happens to the vehicle, the institution is not responsible. In the case that any accident occurs to the vehicle or to the things inside it and the driver wants to go to court, there is an agreement on this ticket that Mount Sinai will not responds for the damages.
For a contract to be valid, there are some requirements that need to be present. Cross and Miller provide a list of 4 requirements. The first one is agreement. This agreement includes an offer and an acceptance. In the parking ticket, the institution is offering parking and the customer is accepting this agreement by parking his/her car at its own risk. The second requirement is consideration. Mount Sinai gives its customers the opportunity to park in its installations and the customer must pay to park (if parking is charged) and accept their terms.
Contractual capacity is the third requirement. Both Mount Sinai and the driver (customer) are competent and have the capacity to understand the terms and accept them. The last requirement is legality. In the parking ticket, it is written the terms and conditions and they are not illegal nor attempt to the public safety. Therefore, according to the definition and requirements, the parking ticket of Mount Sinai is a contract.

Response to f
I do agree with your response that the ticket is a contract. This is because it has several elements of a contract namely an offer, an acceptance, a consideration, competence and legality. Mt. Sinai sells the ticket to individuals who want to park their vehicles within the hospital, and as such, the ticket demonstrates its offer to provide parking services to those people who visit the place. Purchasing the contract is tantamount to acceptance, and the act of giving out money for the ticket meets the consideration threshold. The act of selling the ticket is legal, and in this case, adults with a sound mind are involved in the activity thus fulfilling the capacity element. I like the question that you have posed regarding the medical center’s obligations with regards to the contract. It is paramount for people to realize that the Mt. Sinai’s obligation is based on whether the parking situation is a lease or bailment. This way, the customer will know what to expect.
Response to b
I agree with your view that the parking ticket is indeed a contract. Basically, a contract refers to an agreement between parties creating joint obligations that can be enforced by law. The fundamental components needed for a contract to be a valid contract are: joint assent, expressed by a legal offer and acceptance; sufficient consideration; legality; and capacity. There is mutual agreement between the customer and Mt. Sinai; one party is to provide parking services and the other one (the customer) is to pay. This agreement also constitutes an offer and an acceptance. Money has exchanged hands, an indication of consideration. The transaction is a legal activity as well. Adults are involved in this transaction, an indication of capacity.

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