A California buyer submits a written offer containing both an English-language purchase agreement stating a price of $495,000 and an attached Spanish-language translation of the same agreement. Due to a typographical error, the Spanish version states the price as $495. Both parties sign the English version. If a dispute arises over the purchase price, which version will a California court enforce?
Correct Answer
C) The English version, because it represents the parties' actual mutual intent and the translation error is a clear clerical mistake that does not reflect a meeting of the minds at $495
Under California Civil Code §§1638–1643, courts interpret contracts to give effect to the mutual intention of the parties at the time of contracting. Where a translation contains an obvious typographical error — a $495 purchase price for real property is facially absurd — the court will look to the document that reflects the parties' actual agreement. Both parties signed the English version at $495,000, establishing mutual intent. The translation error does not create a genuine ambiguity; it is a clerical mistake that no reasonable party could have understood as the agreed price.
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Related Topics & Key Terms
Key Terms:
Related Concepts
Liquidated damages are a predetermined amount of money specified in the contract that the non-breaching party is entitled to receive if the other party breaches. In real estate, the earnest money deposit typically serves as liquidated damages.
Novation is the substitution of a new contract for an existing one, or the replacement of one party with a new party, with the consent of all parties involved. The original party is completely released from all obligations.
Offer and acceptance is the process by which one party proposes specific terms for a contract and the other party agrees to those exact terms, creating mutual assent. This mutual agreement, also called a meeting of the minds, is an essential element of every valid contract.
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