Contracts, Torts, and Remedies
Contracts
Formation requires offer, acceptance, consideration, and mutual assent. Watch for the UCC Article 2 (goods) versus common law (services) distinction - the UCC's firm offer rule, the perfect tender rule, and the battle of the forms (2-207) are common traps. Defenses: statute of frauds (California: sale of goods over $500; land; one year), unconscionability, mistake, duress, and illegality. Remedies: expectation, reliance, restitution; specific performance for unique goods or land; liquidated damages must be reasonable.
Torts
Intentional torts (battery, assault, false imprisonment, IIED), negligence (duty, breach, causation, damages), and strict liability (abnormally dangerous activities, products). California's comparative fault regime replaces contributory negligence. Premises liability: duty depends on the entrant's status (invitee, licensee, trespasser) - but California increasingly applies a general reasonable-care standard. Defamation requires a false statement of fact, publication, fault, and harm; public figures need actual malice.
Remedies
Legal (damages) versus equitable (injunction, specific performance, rescission, reformation). Equitable remedies require no adequate remedy at law and clean hands. Punitive damages require oppression, fraud, or malice (Civ. Code § 3294).
Traps
Applying UCC rules to service contracts; forgetting the economic loss rule in tort; conflating assault (apprehension) with battery (harmful contact); overlooking the statute of limitations.
Rule of Thumb
Classify the subject (goods vs. services) before choosing the contract rule. For torts, identify the duty source (general negligence vs. special relationship) before analyzing breach.