Anderson's Business Law and the Legal Environment 20th Edition by David Twomey,Marianne Jennings

Exercise 10

Calvin and Audrey Bones listed their ranch for sale with their real estate agent, Loren Johnson. On July 17, 1997, Dean Keller submitted an offer to buy the ranch for $490,000, with a deposit of $49,000 payable to the agent. The terms of the offer stated that it would be withdrawn if not accepted by July 21 at 5:00 P.M. At 4:53 P.M. on July 21, the Boneses faxed a signed copy of the offer to their agent. Paragraph 15 of the offer. stated in part that "upon execution by seller this agreement shall become a binding contract." Loren Johnson, the sellers' real estate agent, did not telephone the buyer Keller to inform him of the acceptance until 5:12 P.M. on July 21, and then did so by leaving a message on Keller's answering machine. On July 22, the sellers had a change of heart and decided to sell to the current tenants of the ranch. Ms. Johnson called Keller to ask if he would be willing to allow the sellers to back out of the deal. Keller refused and brought suit to enforce "the contract." The Boneses contend that no valid contract was formed because the sellers' acceptance was not communicated to the buyer until after the deadline set forth in the offer had expired. Keller contends that as offeror he is the master of the offer, and the offer was silent with respect to the manner and time of acceptance. Thus, the manner and the time of acceptance must be rendered in a reasonable time and manner, where none is specified. The seller's agent left a message on the buyer's answering machine only 19 minutes after the seller signed the acceptance. and 12 minutes after the 5:00 P.M. signing deadline, which according to Keller is a reasonable time and manner. Decide. [ Keller v Bones, 615 NW2d 883 (Neb)]