Lewis v. Hughes

346 A.2d 231 (1975)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Lewis (P) offered to sell her house trailer to Hughes (D) for $5,000. This offer was made to D’s attorney. The attorney reported the offer to D on May 7^th who without comment assented to the $5,000 price. The attorney then signed and mailed to D a letter dated May 8, 1973, in confirmation of that conversation (very smart attorney who has meticulous attention to detail and who basically does not trust any of his clients). P was notified on May 9^th by the attorney of D’s acceptance. On May 21^st D then notified P that he would not pay the full $5,000 at settlement and instead would only pay $3,500 in cash or $5,000 with terms. D sold the mobile home to another and sued D for fraud and breach of contract. The circuit court found the letter to be sufficient written evidence of the existence of a prior oral agreement, but the court held that it is not subscribed in accordance with the dictates of 2-201(1) and thus cannot be relied upon to satisfy the writing requirement. The trial court noted that the only signature on the document was that of the attorney’s and even though he was the agent of D he was only empowered to transmit acceptance and not to make any written memorandum of the sale and thus he was not an authorized agent. P appealed.