Reference no: EM132015911
Anna is an artist. Two years ago she began working on a series of biographical collages. Each picture reflects the life of a person or group of people. Anna began with 1 members of her own family and then moved on to working on pictures of others, including friends, and even some fictional characters. The family pictures she has created have involved intense conversations between Anna and the subjects of the paintings. In developing the portraits of fictional characters she has read the works in which they appear, and sometimes other works by the authors who created them and academic analyses of the characters. A significant feature of Anna's collage pictures is that she uses a particular product called "Luminesse" in the final stages of the work. Treated with Luminesse, Anna's pictures seem to be filled with light. Anna buys her supplies of Luminesse from Bob's Fine Art supplies. Anna has explained to Bob that a regular supply of Luminesse is critical to her work, and that without an adequate supply she will be unable to create her pictures (Luminesse works best when it is freshly produced - if kept for a long time it loses its magic).
At the beginning of August 2011 Anna ordered 10 gallons of Luminesse to be delivered on September 1, 2011 at a price of $100 per gallon. Bob agreed to supply the 10 gallons of Luminesse for $100 per gallon. Anna agreed to pay (and did pay) half of the price at the time of making the order, and she agreed to pay the rest of the price on delivery. Anna told Bob that by the end of August she would have almost exhausted her supply of Luminesse. Anna exhibits her pictures of family members and fictional characters at Cleo's Art Gallery. She has agreed to provide Cleo with two new pictures each month. Professor Dumble, a professor of literature, bought a picture Anna had created of Hamlet. After living with the picture for two weeks Professor Dumble decided that the picture actually showed Hamlet in a rather negative light and he felt uncomfortable living with the picture. He told Cleo that he did not wish to keep the picture and that he wanted her to collect it and return his money to him. A collage is a form of art in which different materials such as photographs, fabrics, and found objects are combined. Ed, a designer, has bought some of Anna's pictures at Cleo's Art Gallery for use in homes he has designed. Some months ago he approached Anna directly and said that he thought that his wealthy clients would be interested in buying Anna's pictures, or even commissioning pictures of themselves. Ed said he was working on a house for Pearl, a successful singer known for her good taste, and that he was sure that Pearl would love to commission a picture of herself.
Ed told Anna that Pearl's new house was to be featured in House Splendid, the most important design magazine, and that if Anna's picture appeared in an article in this magazine her reputation as a serious artist would be made. Anna and Pearl met a number of times to work on ideas for the picture, and Anna had just reached the point where she would need to apply Luminesse to the picture of Pearl at the beginning of September when Bob informed her that he would be unable to deliver any Luminesse to her that month. Although Bob did not tell Anna this he had delivered the 10 gallons of Luminesse he had to another artist for twice the price Anna had agreed to pay him.
Anna spent hours and hours trying to find an alternate supply of Luminesse. She even drove 100 miles to a shop which claimed to have Luminesse in good condition, only to find that the supply was old and in poor condition. If she had not had to search around for a new supply of Luminesse she would have spent her time working on her art. On the way home she noticed a painting in a gallery window that looked as though it had been treated with Luminesse and when she asked in the gallery she discovered that it had been painted by Frank, a local artist. Anna asked Frank if he had any spare Luminesse he could sell her. Frank had one gallon of Luminesse he was prepared to part with for a price of $300. Anna bought the Luminesse, but did not have enough to finish the picture of Pearl and the two pictures she was required to provide to Cleo.
She chose to finish Pearl's picture and hope that Cleo would be understanding. She delivered Pearl's picture on time. The stress of dealing with these problems made her ill so she lost another week of work.
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:
1. What remedies should Anna be able to obtain against Bob (explain your reasoning)?
2. What difference would it make to your answer to question 1 if Cleo responded to Anna's failure to deliver the two paintings by saying she would never show any of Anna's paintings in future because she was so unreliable?
3. Do you have enough information to decide whether Professor Dumble will be able to return the painting of Hamlet and get his money back? Why or why not? Explain what arguments Professor Dumble will need to make. Do you think Cleo will be able to counter his arguments?