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4.1-14  Manner of Acceptance of an Option Contract

Revised to January 1, 2008

The (offeree: defendant / plaintiff)¹ claims that on <date> (he/she/it) accepted the offer of the (offeror: defendant / plaintiff) under the option contract to <describe contract if necessary>.  The (offeror: defendant / plaintiff) claims that the (offeree: defendant / plaintiff) did not accept the offer on <date set forth in option contract> because the (offeror: defendant / plaintiff) did not receive the acceptance until <later date>.  If you find that the (offeror: defendant / plaintiff) did receive the (offeree: defendant's / plaintiff's) acceptance of the option offer on or before <date set forth in option contract>, then the acceptance was effective.  If you find that the (offeror: defendant / plaintiff) did not receive the acceptance of the option offer until <later date>, then the acceptance was not effective.
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¹ The term "offeror" and "offeree" have been inserted above as a guide.  The charge should be given in terms of the "plaintiff" or the "defendant," depending on which one is the offeror and which one the offeree.

Authority

Smith v. Hevro Realty Corporation, 199 Conn. 330, 337 (1986).

Notes

Parties may agree to a different effective date for acceptance; otherwise, the date the acceptance is actually received by the offeror is the date of acceptance under an option contract.

Rule as to the time of acceptance of an option contract is different from the rule as to the time of acceptance of a contract.  See Time of Acceptance, Instruction 4.1-10.