Which of the following is an exception to the privity rule allowing someone other than the contracting parties to sue or be sued?

• A. Assignments and interests in land
• B. Oral contracts
• C. Agency relationships only
• D. Only for consumer contracts

Answer: (A)

Privity of contract means only the parties who signed the contract can sue or be sued on it. An important exception occurs with assignments and interests in land: when rights under a contract are assigned or when a covenant or other interest runs with the land, the person who acquires those rights or the current landholder can enforce or be bound by them, even if they weren’t a party to the original contract. This is essential for property transactions because it ensures that transferred rights and land-based obligations remain enforceable as they move through ownership or formal assignment. The other options don’t fit because oral contracts don’t create a general third-party enforcement right, agency relationships don’t automatically permit a non-party to sue on the contract, and consumer-contract rules aren’t a broad privity exception.