Motel Services, Inc. v. Central Maine Power Co.
Supreme Judicial Court of Maine
394 A.2d 786 (1978)
Motel Services, Inc. (plaintiff) contracted to build two housing projects for the Waterville Housing Authority (WHA) and, before delivery, switched to electrical heating in order to qualify for a promotional benefit that Central Maine Power Company (CMP) (defendant) offered to home 'owners' with compliant electrical heating systems, a purpose it did not fully disclose to WHA. Motel Services conveyed the properties to WHA while the electrical system was 90 percent complete -- fully installed but not yet in full compliance with CMP's standards -- specifically to avoid an approaching property-tax deadline, and full compliance was achieved only after the conveyance; CMP then inspected the properties and sent its promotional paperwork to WHA rather than to Motel Services. After a bench trial, the court found CMP's promotion was a unilateral contract that Motel Services failed to complete before transferring ownership, and held no enforceable contract existed.
Whether, where an offer is proposed pursuant to a unilateral contract, the offeree accepts such offer when it undertakes to perform the acts required by the offer, obligating the offeror to fulfill its promise upon the offeree's completion of performance.