Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Company v. Smith

637 P.2d 1020 (1981)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

D fired P in October 1979. P followed the grievance procedure provided by a collective bargaining agreement to the third and final level of intracompany proceedings, which was a meeting with company officials at the division office. D initially decided to uphold the decision to fire P but changed its mind after P's union representative requested that it reconsider. By letter dated December 13, 1979, D offered to withdraw the discharge if P would agree to comply with certain terms and conditions. The letter of December 13, 1979, contained the offer to withdraw P's discharge. The letter directed that both P and the union had to agree in writing to the terms of the offer and that the signatures were a condition precedent to the withdrawal of the discharge. It went on to reiterate that the withdrawal of the discharge was contingent upon receipt of written acceptance by P and the union. D insists that it modified this offer by demanding of P during a telephone conversation that he just sign the letter and not add anything. P does not remember the conversation that way. P signed the letter under the typewritten words, 'Understood, Agreed To, and Accepted,' added some handwritten notations, and again signed his name. The union representative also signed the letter and returned it to the company. D now claims that because P wrote on the letter that no contract existed, claiming that P failed to use the mode of acceptance which it prescribed. D argues that P made a counteroffer by adding terms and conditions which showed he was trying to modify the offer.