Lefkowitz v. Great Minneapolis Surplus Store
Supreme Court of Minnesota
86 N.W.2d 689, 251 Minn. 188 (1957)

- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
On April 6, 1956, Great Minneapolis Surplus Store, Inc. (defendant) published a newspaper advertisement stating that on the upcoming Saturday at 9:00 am, it would sell three fur coats described as “Worth to $100" for $1 each. The advertisement stated that the coats would be sold on a “first come, first served” basis. On April 13, 1956, the store published a similar advertisement with similar terms offering to sell a black lapin stole worth $139.50 for $1. On each sale date, Morris Lefkowitz (plaintiff) was the first person to present himself at the store and offer to buy the advertised items. However, the store refused to sell him the items on the ground that a “house rule” dictated that the offers were intended for women only. Lefkowitz brought suit against the store. The trial court held that the value of the fur coats in the first advertisement was too speculative to determine with any certainty and denied damages to Lefkowitz for these items. However, the trial court held that the value of $139.50 for the stole could be determined with sufficient certainty and awarded Lefkowitz the full value of the stole minus the $1 advertised purchase price. The store appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Murphy, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 815,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.