Question

On January 2, 2020, Seller sends Buyer a letter offering to sell an Andy Warhol painting (described in the letter) for $ 500,000. According to the letter, the seller must receive buyer’s acceptance no later than January 10, 2020. On January 6th, buyer (who wants the Warhol painting for his personal collection) decides to accept the offer and prepares a letter which states, "I accept your January 2, 2020 offer to sell the rare postage stamp (as described in the offer) for $500,000". Buyer leaves the office at noon for lunch. On the way, he stops at the post office to mail the letter. Meanwhile, on the morning of January 6th, someone else offers Seller $ 600,000 for the painting. Before Seller accepts this offer, he needs to revoke the original offer that he had made to Buyer. Therefore, Seller calls Buyer’s office at 12:15 p.m. to revoke his offer. Seller speaks to Buyer’s secretary - the following exchange takes place: Secretary: Buyer is out to lunch - he should be back at 1:00 p.m. Seller: “Have him call me. I’m revoking my offer to sell the Andy Warhol painting”. Secretary leaves Buyer a phone message slip that reads “Seller called. He wants you to return the call”. Secretary then goes out to lunch. When Buyer returns from lunch, he sees the message and calls Seller - the following exchange takes place: Buyer: Funny you should call. I just got back from the post office. I just mailed you a letter. I am accepting your offer for the Andy Warhol painting. Seller: Actually, the offer is revoked. In fact, I told secretary “I’m revoking my offer to sell the Andy Warhol painting”. The January 6th letter was delivered to Seller on January 8, 2020. Seller now refuses to transfer the painting. Buyer sues. RESULT?

Answer 1

Answer:-

Applying the principle of acceptance of a proposal that must be absolute and unqualified., it is clear that B never accepted the proposal of A but raised a counter offer which A never accepted hence B cannot claim any damages from A as a contract was never formed between A and B.​​