Joe's Landscaping & Construction is advertising in Lethbridge through billboards that they are currently offering "25% off lawn cleanup services". Ruth sees the billboard and calls up Joe's saying that she accepts their offer and that she expects them there the next day to do the work. On the same day, Joe's receives a call from Sandlot Baseball Co asking about their commercial services. The rep from Joe's tells them their services and arranges a time for someone to come to one of their baseball diamonds to give a quote.

The next day, Ruth calls Joe's upset that no one showed up and she threatened them that they had a contract to do the work for a certain price or else she will sue. The rep on the phone apologizes and sends someone over to give Ruth a quote. Upon receiving the quote, Ruth says, "sounds good to me" and they schedule a time for her work to be done. A few weeks later, Joe's Landscaping gets a call from Ruth's granddaughter stating that Ruth is "over 90 years old and in no position to hire work". Joe's ignores the granddaughter's phone call and shows up to do the work. As they are unloading the equipment, Ruth comes out concerned. She states that she believed they were a construction company that were there to repair her garage. The employees packed up the equipment and left confused.

Meanwhile, a rep from Joe's meets with an employee from Sandlot and gives the employee a quote for $1,000 per month per diamond. The employee says, "that's fantastic, we definitely accept". A few hours later, Joe's gets a phone call from the owner of Sandlot who provides a counteroffer for $500 per month per diamond. The owner of Joe's says, "that is too low, we would need a higher price to cover the cost of labour". Sandlot changes the amount to $750 and the parties agree to that price. The terms of the agreement are drawn up and they say that "Joe's will provide landscaping services to Sandlot for the price of $750". Several months go by and there are issues about the services being provided by Joe's and the owner of Sandlot brings a lawsuit against Joe's, the owner personally, and the sales rep they met with.

1.Ruth

a.Does the advertisement constitute an offer? Would Joe's be bound by 25% off?

i.No, advertisements are an enticement to offer

b.Did Ruth accept the offer? What did she say or do that showed she had accepted the offer?

i.Yes, she made an affirmative statement and scheduled a time for work to be done

c.Is the contract voidable on grounds of mental capacity?

i.Only if the company had reason to believe that she lacked mental capacity

ii.Age is not determinative of mental capacity

d.What form of contract mistake exists between the parties? What remedies are available?

i.Misunderstanding. You could argue that the misunderstanding was caused by Ruth's lack of mental capacity. Either way, there is a misunderstanding, and the contract is void. The remedies would be to have the parties put back into the same position they would have been in before the contract.

2.Sandlot

a.Which party is the offeror and which party is the offeree of the contract?

i.Sandlot is the Offeror and Joe's is the Offeree

b.What price are the parties bound to?

i.$750

c.Does Joe's owner saying "that is too low, we would need a higher price to cover the cost of labour" cause a decline of the offer of $500?

i.Yes, because this is a definitive statement. If he had asked a question about prices, then that would not count as declining the offer.

d.What is the consideration between the parties?

i.Exchange of $750 for landscaping services

ii.You have to be careful with the consideration of "landscaping services" because this may be too general to count as consideration, which would cause the contract to be invalid.

e.What parties can Sandlot sue? What lawsuit options does Sandlot have? What remedies are available?

i.Sandlot can sue Joe's the company. They may also be able to sue Joe if he is a sole proprietor, however, if Joe's is a corporation, then they cannot sue the owner without an agreement that binds the owner to the contract (i.e. guarantee). They cannot sue the sales rep because of privity.