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The way it was told to me, many many years ago, is that, "unless you have credible witnesses, a verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's writen on." [& thats a quote]
A verbal contract carries the same weight as a written one. It is just harder to prove.
What I should have included is the fact that it is up to the judge to decide who is telling the truth.
Based on the facts given to me, it would be my advice that it is very likely that this could be proved but I made a mistake before with my dog's dinner comment. Nothing in law is ever 100% but many cases such as these have been proven.
It is like the many cases involving the posting of offers and acceptances. When an acceptance is posted, it is complete upon the actual posting. Thus, when it never arrives to the seller and is lost, there is no proof of a formed contract. However, the honesty of a man is judged along with the surrounding circumstances. Who says they ever posted it? Only they know but the courts can go on this and further arrangements to complete the contract are admissible as evidence, and can be compelling. False stories are often easy to spot too.
It is the onus of the plaintiff to establish that a contract was formed. In some cases it may not be easy, but it is not impossible and any supporting evidence helps such as the arrangements.
At the end of the day it is up to the purchaser to decide whether the probabilities of success are worth it.
ps. I am not meaning to sound condescending here but law is often misunderstood and thought irrational to the layman. That is why we have lawyers don't we?
Transfer
