Heather is an artist and has several watercolors she would like to sell. Heather orally asks Rylee to sell the paintings for her and directs Rylee that each painting should be sold for at least $100. Rylee schedules a showing in her art gallery to display Heather's paintings. On the day of the showing, a customer offers to buy one of the paintings for $100, and Rylee accepts. When Heather finds out the price the painting sold for, she tries to get the painting back from the customer. Heather claims that she and Rylee did not have a written agency agreement, and, therefore, an agency relationship did not exist between them. Is Heather correct?

A. No, most agency agreements do not have to be in writing to be effective.

B. Yes. Allowing this agency agreement to stand would violate the statute of frauds.

C. Yes, most agency agreements must be in writing to be effective.

D. No. Agency agreements are never in writing.

Assessment question