Work through a fresh MBE Contracts offer and acceptance fact pattern with a clean mailbox-rule analysis, common distractors, and a short quiz teaser.
Lakefront Outfitters emailed Morgan at 9:00 a.m. on Monday: "We will sell 80 camping stoves for $42 each. Let us know by Friday at 5:00 p.m. if you accept." On Tuesday afternoon, Lakefront mailed a signed revocation. Morgan mailed an acceptance on Wednesday morning after reading the original email and then sent a short follow-up email on Thursday that said, "Confirming that I accepted the stove deal." Morgan received the mailed revocation late Friday afternoon. Lakefront now argues that no contract formed because it mailed the revocation before Morgan received it.
A contract formed on Wednesday morning when Morgan dispatched the acceptance, so Lakefront is bound to sell the 80 camping stoves at the stated price. An offer creates the power of acceptance when it justifies the offeree in understanding that assent will conclude the bargain. A revocation is generally effective only when received by the offeree. By contrast, a properly dispatched acceptance sent by an authorized or reasonable medium is effective on dispatch under the mailbox rule unless the offer says otherwise. If the offeree dispatches an acceptance before receiving a revocation, the acceptance controls and the contract forms at dispatch.
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Did Morgan form a contract before Lakefront's attempted revocation became effective?
An offer creates the power of acceptance when it justifies the offeree in understanding that assent will conclude the bargain. A revocation is generally effective only when received by the offeree. By contrast, a properly dispatched acceptance sent by an authorized or reasonable medium is effective on dispatch under the mailbox rule unless the offer says otherwise. If the offeree dispatches an acceptance before receiving a revocation, the acceptance controls and the contract forms at dispatch.
Lakefront's Monday email was a valid offer because it identified the goods, quantity, price, and a firm deadline. Nothing in the email required acceptance by a single exclusive method, so ordinary commercial methods such as mail or email were reasonable. Lakefront's Tuesday revocation did not terminate Morgan's power of acceptance when Lakefront mailed it. Revocation takes effect only when the offeree receives it, and Morgan did not receive the letter until Friday afternoon. Morgan mailed a clear acceptance on Wednesday morning while the offer was still open. That mailing was an authorized and reasonable medium, so the acceptance became effective as soon as Morgan dispatched it. The Thursday email did not change the result; it merely confirmed a contract that had already formed on Wednesday. Because Morgan's acceptance became effective before any revocation was received, Lakefront could not withdraw the offer in time.
A contract formed on Wednesday morning when Morgan dispatched the acceptance, so Lakefront is bound to sell the 80 camping stoves at the stated price.
That flips the revocation rule. Revocation requires receipt by the offeree, not dispatch by the offeror.
The Wednesday mailed acceptance already formed the contract because the offer did not bar acceptance by mail.
A deadline limits how long the offer stays open, but it does not change the default dispatch rule unless the offer demands receipt by the deadline.
Even if Article 2 supplies background principles because goods are involved, the timing result is the same: acceptance beat receipt of revocation.