Also known as: despatches · despatched · despatching · dispatch · dispatches · dispatched · dispatching
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
The sending of an acceptance or other message. An acceptance sent by mail or similar means from a distance is operative upon dispatch only if properly addressed and accompanied by the precautions ordinarily observed to ensure safe transmission of similar messages. When an acceptance is seasonably dispatched but the offeree uses an uninvited means of transmission or fails to exercise reasonable diligence, it remains operative upon dispatch if received within the time a properly dispatched acceptance would normally arrive.
Dustin Donovan mailed an acceptance to Duarte Shipping but used an outdated corporate address listed on an old letterhead. The letter never reached the correct office. Because the acceptance was not properly addressed, it did not become operative upon dispatch and no contract formed when the letter was sent.
Denise Donovan sent her acceptance of Delta Dynamics' offer by overnight courier instead of the invited first-class mail. She failed to include a tracking number. The acceptance arrived within the normal mail window, so it was treated as operative upon dispatch despite the uninvited method.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Duarte Shipping mailed an acceptance of Desert Oil's charter offer using the invited method. The letter was properly addressed and posted before any revocation. Dispatch made the acceptance operative, forming the charter party at the moment of mailing.
Diana Delgado mailed a signed confidentiality agreement to a newspaper after receiving an offer of anonymity. The letter was properly addressed and seasonably sent. Because the acceptance was properly dispatched, contract formation occurred upon mailing.
Danielle Dixon sent a written acceptance of a proposed living arrangement to her relatives by regular mail. The letter was properly addressed and posted before any revocation arrived. Dispatch made the acceptance operative, locking in the arrangement under the applicable formation principles.
An acceptance sent by mail or similar means is operative upon dispatch only when it is properly addressed and the sender takes the precautions ordinarily observed to ensure safe transmission. If those conditions are not met, dispatch alone does not create a contract.
Supporting sources
No. When an acceptance is seasonably dispatched but the offeree uses an uninvited means or fails to exercise reasonable diligence, the acceptance is still treated as operative upon dispatch if it arrives within the time a properly dispatched acceptance would normally have arrived.
Supporting sources
The acceptance is not operative when dispatched. Proper addressing is a prerequisite for the mailbox rule to apply, so a misaddressed acceptance does not form a contract at the moment of mailing.
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…news story was broken, plaintiff Dan Cohen sued defendants Northwest Publications, Inc., publisher of the St. Paul Pioneer Press Dispatch ( Pioneer Press ), and Cowles Media Company, publisher of the Minneapolis Star and Tribune ( Star Tribune ). The trial court ruled that the First Amendment did not bar Cohen's contract and…