Lucy v. Zehmer

Lucy v. Zehmer
Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia
84 S.E.2d 516 (Va. 1954)

Facts: Lucy and Zehmer got drunk. They discussed the sale of the Ferguson Farm, which Zehmer owned. Zehmer wrote a contract which he and his wife signed agreeing to sell the farm to Lucy for $50k. Zehmer protests that he was "higher than a Georgia pine" and that he was kidding, so the contract is void.

Procedure: Trial court held that the complainants (the Lucys) failed to establish their right to specific performance. "The assignment of error is to this action of the court."

Issue: Was the contract legit?

Holding: Yes

Reasoning: Zehmer was not too drunk; The document was produced as a serious piece of business; In the field of contracts, as generally elsewhere, “We must look to the outward expression of a person as manifesting his intention rather than to his secret and unexpressed intention. ‘The law imputes to a person an intention corresponding to the reasonable meaning of his words and acts.’” First Nat. Bank v. Roanoke Oil Co., 169 Va. 99, 114, 192 S.E. 764, 770;