Vogt v. Madden Facts: (P) was a sharecropper on the land of (P). Prior to 1981 (P) claims that he and the (D) discussed what to do with the following years crop. (P) claims that he suggested that the two stop growing wheat and grow beans. The D) did not say anything but the (P) believed that his silence was an assent to the idea. Issues: Did (D) silence assent to the offer? Did the (D) have a duty to speak? Rules: Where an offeree fails to reply to an offer, his silence and inaction operate as an acceptance in the following cases only: (a) where an offeree takes the benefit of offered services with reasonable opportunity to reject them and reason to know that they were offered with the expectation of compensation; (b) where the offeror has stated or given the offeree reason to understand that assent may be manifested by silence or inaction, and the offeree in remaining silent and inactive intends to accept the offer; or (c) where because of previous dealings or otherwise, it is reasonable that the offeree should notify the offeror if he does not intend to accept. Absent the applicability of these exceptions, it is a general rule of law that silence and inaction, or mere silence or failure to reject an offer when it is made, does not constitute an acceptance of the offer. Reasoning: 1) the offeree did not receive the benefits of the offered services because he did not farm that year. 2) They had a relationship in which was made of oral agreements but there had never been an oral agreement by silence.
Petersen v. Thompson Facts: Henderson had a tractor that he agreed to sell to the (D) as is and where it is at. A month later he came to pick it up. They agreed on a price and the seller told defendant he was to pick up the tractor in the woods and pay the price in cash. Thereafter defendant picked up the tractor but did not tell the seller until some time later. After the initial call, plaintiff agreed to buy the tractor from the seller, who thought defendant was no longer interested therein. Issue: If a contract is assented to by performance and the time lapses for that performance but can there still be a contract upon performance? Where was the offer accepted? Rules: - What is reasonable time for taking action depends on the nature, purpose and circumstances of such action
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Where the beginning of a requested performance is a reasonable mode of acceptance an offeror who is not notified of acceptance within a reasonable time may treat the offer as having lapsed. Once the offeree gets knowledge that the offer has revoked there is no offer.
Further: in this case th judged order a nonsuit because he weighed in on the merits of the case instead of the law and said that the (P) had not established a prosecution. What he did worng was to decide if there was law in dispute not facts. Nonsuit: a judgment entered against a plaintiff for failure to prosecute a case or inability to establish a prima facie case: "dismissal" Prima facie: sufficient to establish a fact or case unless disproved