Contracts
Vaskie v. West American insurance Co.
Court: Pa Superior Court Names: Facts: (P) was offered a claim by the (D). A couple years later she accepted. The (D) said that the 2 year statute on liability had run out and that she would not receive the money. Rules: When an offer does not specify an expiration date the offer is deemed outstanding until a reasonable matter of time. The reasonable matter of time is taken from the offeree’s standpoint. In settlement negotiations the reasonableness duration of an offer is not a fixed at a particular time because of clear and uniform courses of dealing and usages of the trade that invariably arise from the very nature of the transaction. Issues: Could an offer lapse for the statue of limitations on personal injury? Holding: Summary judgment could not be issued because time could be solved as a matter of law. Reasoning: Time cannot be decided by law because it would be impossible to lay a blanket statute done that covers time or reasonable amount of time. Different cases have different details and surrounding circumstances. It would be wrong to bind those circumstances with time limitations. Cannot fashion a rule that that determines a time restraint because there is to much variation when the statute of limitations on a injury suite begin If a person wants to put limits on an offer he can do that himself. Otherwise there should not be a need for it (this goes back to autonomy). “Reasonable time” may be determined by the property in question. If is property or securities that fluctuate quickly then the reasonable time is very short if not immediate. UCC Code says that even though a person could answer in a short amount of time, if that time is used to speculate value of a property, then this could be acting in bad faith and may not be considered timely. Every contract or duty within this Act imposes an obligation of good faith in its performance or enforcement. UCC Code.