In lawyer terms, and of course JLA and I are both lawyers so that's the language we speak, if an offer is made, you have two choices. You can accept it in the exact terms in which it was made, or you can suggest alternate terms. The latter is perfectly acceptable, of course. But legally, it represents a rejection of the offer. That's simple black letter law. Offer and acceptance. Contracts 101, which virtually every law school teaches in the first year.
I made crystal clear in my offer that the only way to accept the offer was to say, quite simply, "I accept." Anything else would be rejection.
He didn't say "I accept." He tried to change the offer to suit his preferences. He's entitled to do that. But any lawyer will tell you without any question that such a response is NOT an acceptance of the offer, but a rejection of it and an attempt to negotiate a new and different agreement.
If JLA weren't a lawyer, and indeed one who says he deals in contract law regularly, he might not be expected to understand this clearly. But he is, and he does. And pretending otherwise is simply not true.
I don't say this to continue the argument. I have accepted JC Dithers's offer, and wait to see what JLA will say about it. I only make this post for one point -- to clarify why I said that JLA lied when he said he accepted my offer, and to make clear that in the language both of us speak and understand, I'm right and he's wrong. |
