Hendricks v. Behee

• Hendricks = plaintiff = was the escrowee of $5,000 which was paid by Behee = abstract & title company = escrow company
• Mr. Behee = defendant who deposited $5,000 as earnest money for the home to be purchased from Smith = buyer
• On March 2, 1987, Behee (defendant) offered to purchase real estate from by a couple named Smith (defendants) for $42,500
• The Smith couple lived in Mississippi while their real estate agent lived in Missouri
• On March 4th 1987, Smiths received the real estate offer from Behee & accepted it in writing
• Neither Smiths nor their agent notified Behee (buyer) of their acceptance
• Before learning about the sellers' acceptance, Behee revoke his offer

As a result, Behee (buyer) & Smiths (sellers) disagreed about the existence of a real estate contract. At this juncture, Hendricks (the title company) filed an inter-pleader action in state court & deposited the $5,000 with the court.

A bench trial in Missouri ruled in favor of Behee.

Is an offeror's revocation of an offer effective if done before the offeree [Smiths] has given the offeror [Behee] notice of acceptance of the offer?

Yes. An offeror may revoke the offer at any time before the offeree [Smiths] has communicated the acceptance to the offeror [Behee; buyer] or the offeror's agent.

Affirmed

The whole court with Judge Flanigan: The offeree's acceptance has to be communicated to the offeror [Behee, buyer].

• Contracts_Ayres/9th_ed._Outline#C._Acceptance