Reference no: EM133352855

Summers and Dooley are partners in a small business, "Summers & Dooley Co." The two partners disagree about whether or not to expand the business; Dooley wants to expand and is willing to take the risk, Summers wants to avoid the risk and keep doing what they're already doing. When Dooley proposes hiring a firm to build a new website for the partnership, Summers refuses. Nevertheless, Dooley signs a $10,000 contract with Developer, ostensibly on behalf of "Summers & Dooley Co.," to design and build a new e-commerce portal. Developer completes the work and submits her bill. Summers refuses to allow the bill to be paid out of the partnership account, arguing that he never agreed to it.

(1) If Developer sues Summers personally for the unpaid amount of the bill, will Summers be personally liable?

(2) If Dooley pays the money to Developer, can he recover half the amount from his partner, Summers?

Note that on this problem there are multiple steps to the analysis. You will have to determine whether Dooley had the "power" to bind Summers to the contract and whether he had the "right" to enter into the contract, before you can determine who must pay what.