Facts: Attorney James Mason represented Nelson Serrano, who was accused of killing four people in Central Florida. But Serrano had an alibi: On the day of the crime, hotel surveillance in Atlanta had captured him on video – both before and after the murders. The prosecution did not buy it. It maintained that Serrano had flown back and forth from Atlanta to Florida to commit the murders during a ten-hour span. But in order for this theory to hold, Serrano would have hand to land, disembark, and travel back to his distant Atlanta hotel in just 28 minutes. (Quite a feat, as any Atlanta traveler would know.)

Mason argued that his client could not have committed the murders in this tight time frame – and certainly could not have made it from the gate to the hotel in 28 minutes. Mason appeared on NBC’s Dateline program, exclaiming, “ I challenge anybody to show me – I’ll pay them a million dollars if they can do it.” 

Enter Dustin Kolodziej, a Dateline-watching law student. Kolodziej interpreted Mason’s words as an offer to form a contract, to make it off a plane in Atlanta and back to Serrano’s hotel within 28 minutes in return for one million dollars. Kolodziej did successfully make the journey – and recorded it on his phone. He then demanded payment from Mason. Of course, Mason denied that the televised challenge was an offer, so the law student sued for breach of a unilateral contract. The lower court dismissed the suit, but the determined, budding lawyer appealed. 

Questions:

1. Did Mason make an enforceable offer for a unilateral contract?

2. Did Mason make a genuine offer by promising to pay “a million dollars”?

3. What standard did the court apply in determining how Mason’s statement should be interpreted?

4. Why wasn’t a contract formed?