Ray v. William G. Eurice & Bros. Inc.

201 Md. 115, 93 A.2d 272 (1952)

Facts

The Rays (P) owned a lot in Baltimore County and decided to build a home on it. They looked into several builders to submit an estimate on the building of the home pursuant to stock plans. William G Eurice & Bros. Inc. (D) was one of those builders. D submitted an estimate of $16,000. P then employed an architect and asked for a final bid from D with the final plans. D reviewed the plans and on February 14th, submitted a proposed contract to build the house for $16,300 according to a specification sheet that was attached. P advised D that he would have a contract drawn and that contract called for building the house strictly in accordance with the Plans hereto attached etc., etc., etc. A clause in the contract stated that deviations from the Specifications shall be made only in the event any of the items thereon shown were unavailable after reasonable diligence by D. The contract was signed, and D helped P seek FHA financing for the mortgage using the memorandum of specification of February 14. Eventually, the mortgage was obtained, and a start date was obtained. On May 8th D claimed that he could not build the house with the specification as submitted and that he had never seen those specifications and that the extra cost to build was $1000. P filed suit. The trial judge found a mistake as to the specifications and that there was no meeting of the minds in order to find a contract. P appealed.