Quiz: Contracts and Legal

⚖️ Educational assessment only. Nothing here is legal advice.

Target: 70% or higher.

Section 1: Multiple Choice (1 point each)

1. "A contract is a rehearsal of the failure" means:

  • A) Contracts should anticipate every possible outcome
  • B) The value is almost entirely in what it says about the day something goes wrong
  • C) Contracts are adversarial documents
  • D) You should assume vendors will fail
Answer **B).** *Why B:* Nobody picks up a contract to confirm the caterer should serve dinner. You pick it up when dinner did not arrive. A contract that reads beautifully while everything works is a brochure. *Why not D:* The claim is about *where the value is*, not about vendor reliability. *Reference:* §8.1

2. Which of the twelve clauses is most frequently absent from event contracts?

  • A) Governing law
  • B) Price and payment
  • C) Remedy for non-performance
  • D) Scope of work
Answer **C) Remedy for non-performance.** *Why C:* Most vendor contracts describe what the vendor will do and are silent on what happens if they do not. The silence is not neutral — it defaults the client to general contract law, which for an event that has already happened badly is theoretically real and practically useless. *Reference:* §8.2

3. The 150% cap in the recommended remedy clause exists because:

  • A) It is a legal requirement
  • B) It makes the ask proportionate, insurable, and therefore negotiable rather than adversarial
  • C) Substitute services always cost 50% more
  • D) It matches the typical service charge
Answer **B).** *Why B:* A vendor asked for unlimited liability will refuse and should. A vendor asked for refund plus a bounded substitution cost is being asked for something within their control. The cap is what makes the clause winnable. *Reference:* §8.2

4. A contract has a strong remedy clause and caps liability at "amounts paid to date." The client has paid a 40% deposit. The client can recover:

  • A) 150% of the contract price
  • B) 100% of the contract price
  • C) 40% of the contract price
  • D) Nothing
Answer **C) 40%.** *Why C:* The cap governs. **Clauses 7 and 8 must always be read together** — a strong remedy under a weak cap is decoration. Ask for a cap at the *contract price*, not at *amounts paid*. *Reference:* §8.2

5. The critical question a postponement clause must answer is:

  • A) Whether a rescheduling fee applies
  • B) Whether the funds transfer
  • C) What happens if the vendor is not available on the new date
  • D) How much notice is required
Answer **C).** *Why C:* A and B matter and are usually addressed. C is the one that produces catastrophe: a client who postpones into a date their band cannot work may lose both the band and the money. In the illustrative case this cost $5,700 across two contracts. *Reference:* §8.4

6. In an indemnification clause, "arising out of or related to the Event" versus "arising from its own negligent acts" is the difference between:

  • A) Mutual and one-sided
  • B) Proximity-based and fault-based liability
  • C) Capped and uncapped
  • D) Enforceable and unenforceable
Answer **B) Proximity-based and fault-based.** *Why B:* Under proximity language, a client could be obligated to defend a claim caused entirely by the vendor's own negligence. Fault-based language ties liability to who caused it. *Why not A:* Mutuality is the *other* change to ask for, and both go in one sentence. *Reference:* §8.2, clause 9

7. Reading "for absence" requires:

  • A) Reading the contract twice
  • B) Reading against a checklist, because absence has nothing to look at
  • C) A legal background
  • D) Comparing to another vendor's contract
Answer **B).** *Why B:* A document reads as complete when it is internally coherent, regardless of what it omits. Only a checklist makes absence visible — as a gap in a list rather than as nothing at all. A first pass takes twenty minutes and finds four to seven. *Reference:* §8.3

8. A venue contract is more one-sided than a florist's primarily because:

  • A) Venues are larger businesses
  • B) Venues have lawyers
  • C) Asymmetry of alternatives — the client has emotionally committed before the contract arrives
  • D) Venue contracts are longer
Answer **C).** *Why C:* A florist competes with thirty others. A venue on the date the client has fallen in love with competes with nobody, and knows it. **The practical consequence: negotiate the venue contract at the site-visit stage, before the emotional commitment, or it will not be negotiated at all.** *Reference:* §8.5

9. A $18,000 food-and-beverage minimum "exclusive of service charge and applicable taxes" means the client will actually spend approximately (22% SC, 8% tax on the SC-inclusive base):

  • A) $18,000
  • B) $21,960
  • C) $23,717
  • D) $25,400
Answer **C) ≈ $23,717.** $18,000 × 1.22 = $21,960; × 1.08 = $23,717. The minimum is *satisfied* at $18,000 of food and beverage — and the bill is $23,717. A couple who budgeted the minimum is $5,700 short and feels deceived. *Reference:* §8.5, and Chapter 6's loaded rate

10. The three most important terms in your own planner–client agreement are:

  • A) Fee, schedule, and termination
  • B) Liability capped at your fee; that you do not guarantee vendor performance; image rights
  • C) Scope, governing law, and force majeure
  • D) Payment terms, late fees, and dispute resolution
Answer **B).** *Why B:* These are the three new planners omit and regret. A planner on a $4,500 fee should not be exposed to a $60,000 wedding; you recommend and coordinate but are not the caterer's insurer; and asking for portfolio rights after the wedding is far harder than before. *Reference:* §8.6

11. How many redline asks is "a lot" on a typical $2,400 vendor contract?

  • A) One
  • B) Two
  • C) Four
  • D) Nine
Answer **C) Four is a lot.** Two is normal. Nine is a reputation. *Why:* The vendor's admin time exceeds their margin, they conclude you are difficult, and vendors talk. The exception is the venue, where exposure is largest and the ongoing relationship usually least. *Reference:* §8.7

12. A vendor refuses your requested clause. You should:

  • A) Escalate to the client to press harder
  • B) Confirm your reading in writing, document it, and tell the client
  • C) Accept it and move on without comment
  • D) Decline to book them
Answer **B).** *Why B:* *"Can I just confirm — if Priya couldn't shoot, we'd get whoever the studio assigns and there's no approval step. Is that right?"* Then write the answer down and disclose it. **A documented refusal is a risk the client has accepted; an un-asked question is a risk nobody knows about.** *Why not A:* Never send the client to negotiate — they are not equipped and it makes them the adversary. *Reference:* §8.7

Section 2: True/False with Justification (1 point each)

13. A contract with no cancellation clause is good for the client, since nothing is retained.

Answer **Not determinable, and probably not.** Silence does not mean "nothing is retained." It means the outcome defaults to whatever general contract law provides in that jurisdiction, which neither party has read and which may favour either side. **Uncertainty is not the same as advantage.** The correct response is to raise it and propose a scale — a defined 50% at 90 days is more useful to a client than an undefined position.

14. A planner can tell a client that a particular clause "wouldn't hold up anyway."

Answer **False, and this is the line you must not cross.** You may say what a clause *says* and what you would *ask for*. Assessing enforceability is a legal opinion and requires a licence. It is also frequently wrong: enforceability is jurisdiction-specific and fact-specific, and a planner who reassures a client that a term is unenforceable has given advice they may have to answer for.

15. Postponement is a form of cancellation and is adequately covered by a cancellation clause.

Answer **False, and treating them as the same is the error the §8.4 case demonstrates.** Cancellation means the event does not happen; postponement means it happens on another date. When a contract is silent on postponement, the cancellation clause governs by default — which means a client changing a date may forfeit everything. In the illustrative case, two contracts without postponement clauses accounted for $5,700 of a $10,600 date change.

16. An indemnification clause is boilerplate and rarely worth negotiating.

Answer **False.** A one-sided, proximity-based indemnification can obligate a client to defend and pay for a claim caused entirely by the vendor's own negligence. It is dense and it looks like boilerplate, which is exactly why it goes unread. **Most small vendors have never read their own** — it came from a template — and will agree to make it mutual and fault-based when the effect is pointed out.

17. If a good vendor would do the right thing anyway, the clause is unnecessary.

Answer **False, and this is the trap the postponement case illustrates.** The photographer honored a clause that did not exist, out of decency. The band did not — not because they were bad actors, but because they had already sold that Saturday. An industry where good people frequently do the right thing without obligation is an industry where planners stop asking for the clause, and then encounter the one vendor who cannot afford to be generous. **The clause is for the vendor who is behaving reasonably and cannot help you.**

Section 3: Short Answer (2 points each)

18. Write the two-ask email for a photography contract with a permissive substitution clause and no remedy clause.

Sample Answer > "Thanks for sending this over — it's clear and I've only got two things I'd like to ask about. Everything else looks good and we're keen to move forward. > > **First, section 6, the substitution clause.** As written it lets the studio assign a different photographer. Alicia and Sam booked specifically on Priya's portfolio, so I'd like to name her: > > *'The Services shall be performed by Priya Raman. In the event of illness or other cause rendering her unable to perform, Studio shall notify Client immediately and propose a substitute of comparable experience for Client's approval.'* > > **Second, there's nothing about what happens if the Studio can't perform at all.** I know it's unlikely and I'd feel better having it written down: > > *'If Studio fails to perform on the Event Date, Studio shall refund all sums paid within seven days and reimburse Client's reasonable cost of substitute services, not to exceed 150% of the Contract Price.'* > > If the 150% is uncomfortable I'm flexible on the number — the refund is the part that matters to me. If both are fine, send it back and we'll sign this week." *Rubric — full credit requires:* opening that names the asks as few and states intent to book; **proposed wording for each**; a client-centred reason for the first; flexibility signalled on one dimension; a close stating intent to sign.

19. A venue contract says access begins at noon and the ceremony is at 4:30. The tent takes four hours to install with a three-person crew. Explain the problem and what you do.

Sample Answer Noon access plus four hours of install puts the tent complete at 4:00 — **thirty minutes before the ceremony**, with no time for the florist, the rental company, the caterer, or the couple's own setup, all of which need the same space. In practice it is worse: the tent must be up before tables can be placed, tables before linens, linens before centerpieces, and the caterer needs the space clear. The four-hour install does not end the schedule; it *starts* it. **What I do, in order:** (1) call the venue and ask what early access costs — it is usually available and usually unasked-for; (2) confirm with the tent company that the earlier call time works and at what premium; (3) rebuild the morning from the new anchor; (4) if early access is genuinely unavailable, the ceremony time moves, and that decision belongs to the couple and must be made now rather than in month eleven. **Cost to fix at contract review: one phone call. Cost to fix at eleven days out: about $500 and twenty hours** (Chapter 2 Case Study 1). *Rubric:* Must do the arithmetic; must recognize that install *precedes* everything else rather than being parallel; must give an ordered response beginning with the venue ask; full credit notes the cost differential between fixing now and fixing late.

20. Explain why the venue contract must be reviewed at the site-visit stage rather than at booking.

Sample Answer Because of asymmetry of alternatives. A venue on the date a client has fallen in love with competes with nobody. Once the client is emotionally committed — and they commit at the visit, not at the signature — the planner's leverage is gone, and every ask becomes a request the venue can decline without consequence. Before the commitment, the venue is one of three or four candidates and has ordinary commercial incentive to accommodate. After it, they know the client is not going anywhere. The practical consequence: **contract review belongs to the shortlist stage.** Ask for the full contract before the second site visit, review it then, and let the terms be one of the criteria on which the venue is chosen — which is also the only way a client can compare venues honestly, since a $5,000 site fee with a noon access window and a $9,000 one with 8 a.m. access are not the same product. *Rubric:* Must name asymmetry of alternatives; must locate emotional commitment at the visit rather than the signature; full credit notes that terms should be a *selection* criterion, not a post-selection negotiation.

Section 4: Applied Scenario (5 points)

21. A caterer's contract, for a $16,800 engagement, contains:

"§4 A final guaranteed count is due fourteen (14) days prior. Additions after that date will be accommodated where possible at 150% of the per-person rate. §7 Caterer shall use commercially reasonable efforts to perform. §9 Client shall indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Caterer from any and all claims arising out of or related to the Event. §11 Caterer's liability shall not exceed amounts actually paid. §13 All deposits are non-refundable. §15 Caterer may substitute menu items of comparable quality without notice."

There is no postponement clause, no force majeure clause, and no insurance provision.

Produce: (a) the absence audit findings ranked by exposure; (b) your two asks with proposed wording; (c) one absence you will not ask about and why; (d) what you tell the client about what remains unprotected.

Sample Answer **(a) Findings, ranked by exposure:** 1. **§7 + §11 together — no remedy, cap at amounts paid.** The largest exposure by far. If the caterer does not appear, the client recovers only what they have already paid — and paid money is money already gone. **Net recovery for a total failure: effectively nothing beyond a refund of the deposit.** 2. **No force majeure clause.** On a $16,800 contract with a raw-site outdoor wedding, silence means an argument at the worst possible moment about who keeps $16,800. 3. **No postponement clause.** Combined with §13 (all deposits non-refundable), a date change likely forfeits the deposit and possibly more. 4. **§9 indemnification, proximity-based and one-sided.** The client indemnifies the caterer even for the caterer's own negligence — which matters most here because catering is the vendor category most likely to generate a personal-injury claim (allergen, foodborne illness, a server dropping something). 5. **No insurance provision.** The venue's §7 requires a certificate naming Wildrye Farm as additional insured by −14 days. The caterer's contract does not commit them to providing one. **Discovered at load-in, this stops the event.** 6. **§15 substitution without notice.** Real but lower exposure; matters for allergen and dietary reasons more than for quality. 7. **§4 additions at 150%.** Not an absence — a term. But it must go into the Chapter 5 RSVP timeline: ten late additions at a $148 loaded rate cost $2,220 instead of $1,480. **(b) The two asks:** > "Two things and then we're good to go. > > **First, section 7 and 11 together.** There's nothing about what happens if you can't perform, and liability is capped at what's already been paid — so if something went wrong, the couple would effectively have no recourse. I'd like: > > *'If Caterer fails to commence service on the Event Date, Caterer shall refund all sums paid within seven days and reimburse Client's reasonable cost of substitute services, not to exceed 150% of the Contract Price.'* > > And in §11, could the cap be the Contract Price rather than amounts paid? > > **Second, there's no insurance provision.** Wildrye Farm requires a certificate at $1M naming them as additional insured, fourteen days out. Could we add a line committing to that? It saves us both a scramble." Note: **two asks, three changes**, because the §7/§11 pair is one issue. **(c) The absence I will not ask about: force majeure.** Not because it does not matter — it is the second-largest exposure — but because a caterer is unlikely to accept a client-favourable force majeure clause without counsel, the negotiation is long, and it would take my ask count to four or five. **Instead I document it and disclose it**, and I raise it with the client as something to consider when deciding whether to buy event cancellation insurance (Chapter 9). That converts an un-won ask into a purchasable protection. *(An equally defensible answer: ask about force majeure and let the indemnification go. Both are correct if reasoned and documented.)* **(d) What I tell the client:** > "Two things I want you to know about the catering contract, because I asked and didn't get them. > > One: there's no force majeure clause. If something outside anyone's control made the wedding impossible — a genuine emergency, not just bad weather — there's nothing in the contract that says what happens to the money. I'd want to talk about event cancellation insurance for that, and I'll bring options. > > Two: the indemnification section is one-sided. In practice it's very unlikely to matter, and I want you to know it's there rather than find out later. > > I did get the important one changed — if they don't show up, you get your money back and up to 150% toward a replacement. That's the one that mattered most." *Rubric:* | Criterion | 0 | 1 | 2 | |---|---|---|---| | Audit (a) | Lists absences unranked | Ranks them | Ranks by *exposure*, reads §7+§11 as one issue, and identifies the insurance gap as event-stopping | | Asks (b) | No proposed wording | Two asks with wording | Two asks with wording, correctly bundling §7/§11, and the insurance ask framed as mutual benefit | | Declined ask (c) | Arbitrary | Names one with a reason | Names one, gives a *strategic* reason (ask count, likelihood), and converts it into a purchasable protection | | Client disclosure (d) | Omits or alarms | Discloses | Discloses both unprotected items plainly, offers a remedy for one, and closes on the ask that *was* won | *Scoring: (a)=1.5, (b)=1.5, (c)=1, (d)=1.*

Scoring and Next Steps

Score Assessment What to do
Under 50% Needs review Re-read §8.2, §8.3, §8.4. Redo Part A and B.2.
50–70% Partial Do B.1 and B.5. Then run C.1 on one real contract.
70–85% Solid Proceed to Chapter 9. Do C.1 first — audit three real contracts.
Over 85% Strong Proceed. Deep Dive: case-study-02.md and exercises E.1, E.2.

Regardless of score: do C.1 and C.2. Chapter 9 assembles an insurance file, and its requirements come from contracts you must be able to read.