Long v. Allen

906 P.2d 754, 120 N.M. 763, 1995 N.M. App. LEXIS 124
New Mexico Court of Appeals·Decided October 19, 1995·No. 16443·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinions

OPINION

BUSTAMANTE, Judge.

Defendant Allen (hereafter Seller) appeals from an order of summary judgment in favor of Plaintiff Long (hereafter Buyer) in an action for breach of a residential purchase agreement. Determining there were no genuine issues of material fact, the trial court found the purchase agreement enforceable and granted Buyer’s motion to compel arbitration pursuant to the purchase agreement. Judgment was entered against Seller and his former wife, co-owners of the property at issue. Only Seller has appealed. We affirm.

DISCUSSION

Buyer made several offers to Seller and his former wife (collectively, Owners) to purchase their residence. Ultimately, Buyer made a written offer dated March 1, 1994, that was set to expire on March 3, 1994, at 6:00 p.m. unless the Owners delivered a written acceptance to Buyer before that time. The Owners signed the offer (the Agreement) on March 4, 1994, and returned it to Buyer on that date via her real estate agent. Both parties acknowledge that the Owners’ execution of the Agreement on March 4 constituted a counteroffer. They dispute, however, whether uncontroverted facts establish that Buyer’s performance constituted an “acceptance” that bound the Owners to the terms of the counteroffer.

The ultimate question of whether the Owners’ counteroffer became a binding promise and l’esulted in a contract requires us to consider whether the evidentiary facts conclusively establish that Buyer accepted the counteroffer. See Orcutt v. S & L Paint Contractors, Ltd., 109 N.M. 796, 798, 791 P.2d 71, 73 (Ct.App.1990) (offeree’s acceptance must be clear, positive, and unambiguous). Acceptance of an offer is a manifestation of assent to the terms of the offer, made by the offeree, in a manner allowed, invited, or required by the offer. Id. (citing Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 50 (1981)).

Seller initially contends that the specific terms of the Owners’ counteroffer required a written acceptance. Seller refers us to paragraph 4.11 of the Agreement which states that “[a]ll notices and communications required or permitted under this Agreement shall be in writing.” Paragraph 4.11 is a general provision which describes the mechanics for giving notice “required or permitted under this Agreement,” including addresses and facsimile telephone numbers. The paragraph also defines the effective time of notices depending on the method of delivery. The paragraph does not on its face address the manner of acceptance or time within which acceptance of the counteroffer is required. We believe that the act of acceptance of the counteroffer is not a communication under the document as provided in paragraph 4.11. Rather, acceptance is an act creating an agreement. The Agreement does not otherwise address in any way Buyer’s mode of response and, in our view, simply does not specify that the counteroffer can only be accepted in writing. The counteroffer thus invited acceptance by any manner reasonable under the circumstances, such as by promise or performance. See Restatement, supra, § 30(2) (form of acceptance invited) and § 32 (in case of doubt, offeree may accept by promise or performance).

The fact that the transaction involved the sale of land and thus was within the statute of frauds does not persuade us by itself that a written acceptance was required. The Agreement, already signed by Buyer on March 1, identified each party and the subject land and also specified the pertinent terms and conditions of the transaction. See Pitek v. McGuire, 51 N.M. 364, 371, 184 P.2d 647, 651-52 (1947). Seller 'suggests that Buyer’s actions were not the type of partial performance which would take the transaction out of the statute of frauds. We disagree. The Agreement satisfied the requirements set forth in Pitek, and Seller, the party to be charged in this case, signed the document. Nothing more is required to satisfy the statute of frauds. See id.; Balboa Constr. Co. v. Golden, 97 N.M. 299, 303, 639 P.2d 586, 590 (Ct.App.1981); Restatement, supra, § 131.

We turn next to the facts bearing on the issue of Buyer’s acceptance of the counteroffer by her performance. To the extent the pertinent facts are not in dispute and all that remains is the legal effect of those facts, summary judgment is appropriate. See Westgate Families v. County Clerk, 100 N.M. 146, 148, 667 P.2d 453, 455 (1983). The following facts are undisputed. Paragraphs 1.4(A) and 1.9 of the Agreement required Buyer to deliver a $5,000 earnest-money deposit to a named title company as soon as practical. The check was received by the title company on March 8,1994. Buyer arranged for professional inspections of the property as urged in paragraph 2.5 of the Agreement. Pursuant to paragraph 2.1 of the Agreement, Buyer sought and obtained a financing commitment for her purchase of the property. Paragraph 1.10 specified that the closing take place within ten business days of April 8, 1994, and that the parties arrange for delivery and execution of the necessary documents and funds. Buyer appeared at the title company office on April 14,1994, and signed all the documents necessary to close the transaction. In our view, these facts establish conclusively that Buyer accepted the Owners’ counteroffer by performance of what the counteroffer requested. See Restatement, supra, § 62 (where offer invites offeree to choose between acceptance by promise and acceptance by performance, beginning of invited performance is an acceptance by performance).

We recognize that Seller’s affidavit states he never received any communication from Buyer specifically claiming or purporting to accept the counteroffer. However, the fact that Buyer may not have communicated her verbal or written promissory acceptance explicitly is not fatal to Buyer’s position. The Restatement makes it clear that notification to the offeror of acceptance is not necessary unless the offer requests notice or the offeree has reason to know the offeror has no adequate means of learning of the performance with reasonable promptness and certainty. Restatement, supra, § 54. We have already determined the offer did not require any particular form of acceptance. Further, Seller does not assert and has made no showing that he had no means of learning about Buyer’s acceptance. Most tellingly, however, it cannot be disputed that Seller had actual notice of Buyer’s acceptance.

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Long v. Allen, 906 P.2d 754, 120 N.M. 763, 1995 N.M. App. LEXIS 124 (N.M. Ct. App. 1995).

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