Civil Jury Instructions Home

4.1-10  Time of Acceptance

Revised to January 1, 2008

Acceptance occurs as soon as it is transmitted by a means which the (offeror: defendant / plaintiff)¹ has authorized, and it is put out of the (offeree: defendant’s / plaintiff’s) possession, regardless of whether or when the (offeror: defendant / plaintiff) receives it.  The (offeree: defendant's / plaintiff's) act of signing the written offer did not become an acceptance of that offer until the signed offer was out of the (offeree: defendant's / plaintiff's) possession and on its way to the (offeror: defendant / plaintiff).

The (offeree: defendant / plaintiff) claims that (he/she/it) signed the contract from the (offeror: defendant / plaintiff) on <date> and <describe the act by which the offer left the offeree's possession, e.g., placed it in a post office box, gave it to a messenger in an envelope addressed to the offeror> on <date>.  The (offeror: defendant / plaintiff) claims that (he/she/it) did not receive the contract signed by the (offeree: defendant / plaintiff) until <later date>.  The time when the acceptance occurred is not the time when the (offeree: defendant / plaintiff) signed the contract and it is not the time when the (offeror: defendant / plaintiff) received the contract, it is the time when <insert the act previously described>.
_______________________________________________________

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

L. & E. Wertheimer, Inc. v. Wehle-Hartford Co., 126 Conn. 30, 35 (1939); Lyon v. Adgraphics, Inc., 14 Conn. App. 252, 255 (1988), cert denied, 208 Conn. 808 (1988); see also 1 Restatement (Second), Contracts § 63, p. 151 (1981).