Consumer Law, Warranties Contract under influence of alcohol

[skye1984]

I have a question, lets say two good friends go to a bar, have a couple of drinks, than joke around about a partnership for a business, such as land development. After throwing around several ideas they find that the project is doable and agree to the venture, they discuss their roles in the project and how the expenses and profit is split. Soon after one of the gentlemen decides to actually start the project, and makes a profit after a period of several years, and the other friend sues because he believes fiduciary duty was owed to him since they had a partnership. Question is whether a partnership was formed. I'm guessing not, since there was no intent, since they were good friends and at a bar, had a couple drinks, and never contacted each other about the partnership after the event. I'm not sure if alcohol is a determining factor since neither gentlemen were incapacitated and were of sound mind. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[NYClex]

It depends on a couple of factors: How definite was the agreement, was there actually a "meeting of the minds", were there definite terms? Was there consideration? In short: was a contract actually formed.

Then the question is, if the agreement should have been in writing. If it is not, it might be a defense. Are there other statutory regulations regarding the formation of the agreement and have they been met?

Then among other defenses, there might be the defense of intoxication. It is a defense against the contract, so the party against whom the contract should be enforced would be the one to claim it. It only works when the party can prove that he really did not know what he was doing because he was so drunk.

Last, it might be a problem if one party lets years go by without asserting its claims.

So off the cuff, from what I read here, I doubt that a partnership agreement legally was formed. But you would have to go through all the details to make an exact decision.