Cengage Advantage Books: Law for Business 18th Edition by John Ashcroft ,Janet Ashcroft

Exercise 8

Knowing of a building project that required boilers, H.B. Smith, a boiler manufacturer, sent a quote for the boilers to Hazelton Manufacturing Co. Although Smith gave a retail price in some other quotes, in this quote Smith gave a "net" price of $131,711 and said there would be no discounts. When given a net price, a distributor normally marks it up to generate its profit. Instead, Hazelton thought it was a retail price so followed the industry practice of discounting it or reducing it for commercial customers. Hazelton wrote "$88,200 and cost" next to the price on the Smith form and added its name, address, and phone number. It sent these unsolicited forms to I R Mechanical Inc. and to a large number of businesses it thought might bid on the project. I R based its bid on the project on Hazelton's $88,200 figure. I R got the bid and called Hazelton to order the boilers. Hazelton said there had been a mistake and would not sell the boilers for $88,200. I R bought the boilers elsewhere for $140,000 and sued Hazelton for breach of contract. Did I R and Hazelton have a contract?