After lengthy telephone negotiations, bernstein and metal manufacturers (mm) entered into an agreement whereby mm agreed to sell bernstein 20,000 pounds of nickel cathodes at $4.60 per pound. to secure the deal, bernstein promised to send mm a check for $20,000, which mm was to hold in escrow until the nickel cathodes were ready for shipment. about a month later, bernstein sent a letter confirming the oral negotiations and enclosed a $20,000 check as a “good faith deposit”. bernstein also indicated in his letter that the check was to be held in escrow awaiting preparation of the nickel cathodes. when mm attempted to deposit bernstein’s $20,000 check in an escrow account, it was rejected by the bank because bernstein had stopped payment on it. mm immediately ceased production of the nickel cathodes. subsequently, bernstein purchased 20,000 pounds of nickel cathodes on the open market at a price substantially higher than the price it had contracted to pay mm. bernstein then sued to recover this difference in price. what argument does mm have to defend against bernstein’s suit? who will succeed?

In december of 2004, the company you own entered into a 20-year contract with a grain supplier for daily deliveries of grain to its hot dog bun manufacturing facility. the contract called for "10,000 pounds of grain" to be delivered to the facility at the price of $100,000 per day. until february 2017, the supplier provided processed grain which could easily be used in your manufacturing process. however, no longer wanting to absorb the cost of having the grain processed, the supplier began delivering whole grain. the supplier is arguing that the contract does not specify the type of grain that would be supplied and that it has not breached the contract. your company is arguing that the supplier has an onsite processing plant and processed grain was implicit to the terms of the contract. over the remaining term of the contract, reshipping and having the grain processed would cost your company approximately $10,000,000, opposed to a cost of around $1,000,000 to the supplier. after speaking with in-house counsel, it was estimated that litigation would cost the company several million dollars and last for years. weighing the costs of litigation, along with possible ambiguity in the contract, what are three options you could take to resolve the dispute? which would be the best option for your business and why?