Posted: January 4th, 2016

Giovanni Motors are a car manufacturer based in Italy. They have been manufacturing high end performance cars since 2010.

Giovanni Motors are a car manufacturer based in Italy. They have been manufacturing high end performance cars since 2010.

Dan bought a Giovanni motor dealership in Preston in early 2015. To market his business to new and established customers, Dan placed an advertisement in the regional newspaper on Friday 1st May 2015. The advertisement stated that for a limited period Dan would sell Giovanni Respiros (a 3 litre twin turbo charged V8 coupe) for £200,000 instead of the usual price of £250,000. He also stated that there were only 5 Respiros available at this special promotional price. Respiros could be ordered in person at the motor showroom or by e-mail at danruff@giovannimotorspreston.com.

Ann read Dan’s advertisement at 4.55pm on Friday 1st May and, immediately, sent an e-mail ordering a Respiro. The e-mail was received on Dan’s computer at 5.03pm. Later that evening Dan realised his offer was far too generous. He feared that most people would order by email rather than visiting his newly refurbished showroom, where he had hoped that they would be impressed by other cars from the Giovanni performance range.

Dan phoned the regional newspaper asking for a notice to be placed in the next day’s edition stating that his special promotional deal was no longer available. Ann received the Saturday edition of the newspaper, containing Dan’s notice, at 12.30pm on the 2nd May.

Dan opened his shop at 9.30am on Saturday 2nd but did not read Ann’s e-mail until 12.40pm. He refused to sell the Respiro to Ann because the special promotional price was no longer available. Ann sued Dan for breach of contract. At first instance the judge found in favour of Dan on the following grounds:

1. There was no contract between Dan and Ann because Dan’s newspaper advertisement was not an offer but an invitation to treat (Partridge v Crittenden [1968] 1 WLR 1204 applied); and

2. Even if the advertisement was an offer, it was withdrawn before acceptance (Payne v Cave (1789) 3 TR 148 and Brinkibon Ltd v Stahag Stahl GmbH [1983] 2 AC 34 applied).