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Having concluded that the circuit court did not err in considering parol evidence, Wiencek further contends that the trial court erred in holding that the B108 agreement had yet to become effective. Specifically, Wiencek contends that this case is similar to Foreman, supra, where the Court of Appeals refused to permit a party to establish that the effective date of a contract was different from the express terms of that contract. Foreman, supra, 257 Md. at 443-44. CHH avers, however, the trial court was not clearly erroneous in finding that there was not a contract in the first instance. We agree with CHH. For the reasons stated in Part II, supra, Foreman is distinguishable from this case because--like Saliba-- Foreman is a situation where the court sought to interpret rather than identify the contractual agreement. Foreman, supra, 257 Md. at 443 (“The parties to the contract, after a preliminary oral negotiation, reduced their agreement to writing for the purpose of embodying their contract in its final form.”). Critically, in this case the trial judge found that the B108 document was not executed “for the purpose of embodying their contract in its final form.” Id. Indeed, contrary to Foreman, the question at issue here is not one of contract interpretation but one of contract identification. “A manifestation of mutual assent by the parties to a contract is essential to its formation.” Post v. Gillespie, 219 Md. 378, 384 (1959) (citing Restatement (First) of

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