Bernie and Phil's Great American Surplus store placed an ad in the Sunday Times stating, "Next Saturday at 8:00 A.M. sharp 3 brand new mink coats worth $5,000 each will be sold for $500 each! First come, First served." Marsha LufMin was first in line when the store opened and went directly to the coat department, but the coats identified in the ad were not available for sale. She identified herself to the manager and pointed out that she was first in line in conformity with the store's advertised offer and that she was ready to pay the $500 price set forth in the store's offer. The manager responded that a newspaper ad is just an invitation to negotiate and that the store decided to withdraw "the mink coat promotion." Review the text on unilateral contracts in Section 12(b) of Chapter 12. Decide.

Unilateral contracts are defined as one in which the party making an offer are the only ones that obligation to pay for specific performance of an action from the offeree.

For example if a person offers to pay anyone to mow their lawn. Any person that agrees to the job does not have a commitment to perform it.

The only commitment is that the offeror will pay once the lawn is mowed.

In the scenario above Bernie and Phil’s Great American Surplus store placed an ad in the Sunday Timesstating, “Next Saturday at 8:00 A.M. sharp 3 brand new mink coats worth $5,000 eachwill be sold for $500 each! First come, first served.” They are the offerors

Marsha now did her part by being first in line to buy the coat.

By not having the coat available for sale Bernie and Phil have broken their unilateral contract