Editing Lonergan v. Scolnick

{{Infobox Case Brief
|court=California Court of Appeal
|citation=276 P.2d 8
|date=November 23, 1954
|subject=Contracts
|other_subjects=Property
|facts=*"Scolnick" = defendant = owner of a 40-acre plot of land = seller
*"Lonergan" = potential buyer
*In March 1952, Scolnick put an ad in the paper offering to sell a plot of land. The ad didn't list a price.
*Lonergan responded to the ad, and a series of letters between the two regarding the property and the sale thereof took place. 
*Scolnick told Lonergan that his minimum price was $2,500.
*On April 8th 1952, the Defendant (Scolnick) wrote to the Plaintiff and said that he better hurry and make an offer, because he was expecting to sell the land shortly.
*Scolnick then sold the land to someone else on April 12.
*A couple of days later, the Lonergan wrote to the Scolnick & offered to buy the land.
{{Timeline|Scolnick writes to Lonergan|April 8th 1952|April 12th 1952|Scolnick sells the land to someone else for $2,500|Lonergan agrees to buy the land at $2,500|April 15th 1952|April 17th 1952|Lonergan opens an escrow account}}
|procedural_history=Trial court found for the defendant.
|issues=Was there a contract?
|arguments=Plaintiff said that a contract already existed.
|holding=The April 8th 1952 letter of Scolnick didn't constitute an offer.

Judge Barnard: Contract formation requires a meeting of the minds upon mutually agreeable terms.

No contract had been formed.
|judgment=Affirmed.
|reasons=* Judging from the Defendant's language, he intended to sell the land to the first-comer. The ad in the paper was only a request for an offer.
* The lack of specificity in the ad and the "over subscription problem" (elevated interest for a newly available offering causes demand to outstrip supply).
|case_text_links={{Infobox Case Brief/Case Text Link
|link=https://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/2d/129/179.html
|case_text_source=Justia
}}{{Infobox Case Brief/Case Text Link
|link=https://www.quimbee.com/cases/lonergan-v-scolnick
|source_type=Video summary
|case_text_source=Quimbee
}}
|case_videos={{Infobox Case Brief/Case Video
|service=YouTube
|id=J6N6UA1OdlQ
}}
|Court_opinion_parts={{Court opinion part
|opinion_type=majority
|written_by=Charles R. Barnard
|joined_by=Griffin* Mussell
}}
}}