Lacquement v. Handy

In Lacquement v. Handy, 876 S.W.2d 932, 935 (Tex. App.-Fort Worth, 1994, reh'g denied), the settment offer read as follows: You must respond to this offer within ten (10) days of the date of the receipt of this letter. If no response is made, this offer to compromise and settle the claim will be withdrawn and no further settlement will be offered or tendered. In construing the above language, the Handy court concluded that the settlement offer was unclear as to whether it was true time demand letter. Handy, 876 S.W.2d at 936. Therefore, the court adopted the meaning more favorable to the non-drafting party. Id. The court found that the language did not clearly indicate that the offer would expire automatically, without any further action required, if not accepted before the expiration of a certain time limit. Id. ("the letter does not clearly indicate, by its own terms, that if not 'accepted' within ten days, it automatically expires, or should be considered to be automatically withdrawn.").