Anderson Ltd$.$ was negotiating a contract with the Bolton Manufacturing Co$.$ for a large number of components for the office equipment Anderson Ltd$.$ sells. The normal way of pricing the components is $"$by the piece," but Bolton Manufacturing sent a written offer to Anderson to sell the components at $$5$ a kilogram. The components would normally cost about $$5\mathrm{.}50$ each and there are about two of them to the kilogram. After receiving Anderson Ltd$.\text{'}$s acceptance of the offer, Bolton realized the mistake it had made and is now refusing to perform the contract. Anderson has sued for breach of contract.

Multiple Choice

A reasonable person would have realized that there was a mistake about the price so Anderson will not be allowed to snap up the offer.

Bolton will succeed since a mistake as to value makes the contract void.

There is offer, acceptance and consideration from each party and, since the court will not consider the adequacy of consideration in a contract, Bolton has no grounds to refuse to perform the contract.

While a reasonable person might not have realized that there was a mistake in the offer, the court will not allow Anderson to enforce the contract if doing so will cause hardship for Bolton.

Since the mistaken phrase is ambiguous, the courts will not interpret it and Bolton will succeed.