Kamal places an ad in the local newspaper as follows: "$500 reward for the return of my gold ring." Mira finds the ring and returns it to Kamal, but he refuses to pay her the $500. Which of the following statements is true regarding this case?
A) As the ad was merely a solicitation of offers, there was no contract until Kamal accepted Mira's offer to find the ring.
B) Mira may not recover the money because she did not contact Kamal before she began her search.
C) As Mira did not pay Kamal to keep the offer open, he is free to revoke the offer and not pay her anything.
D) Mira accepted the ad as an offer for a unilateral contract by returning the ring and hence, Kamal is bound to pay her the $500.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The concept of promissory estoppel is often used to prevent unfairness in unilateral contract offer withdrawals. The general rule that the offeror can revoke at any time prior to acceptance causes special problems when the offer is for a unilateral contract. If the offeror benefited from the offeree's attempted performance, some courts may allow the offeror to revoke but require him or her to pay the offeree the reasonable value of the performance under a quasi contract theory. Since the above case is a unilateral contract, Kamal cannot revoke the offer and is bound to pay the $500 to Mira.

Kamal Places an Ad in the Local Newspaper as Follows