Release form is all thats needed?

[Leslie Holzberg schmidt]

A house was under contract and the only stipulation was an inspection which took place...cash deal. The sellers also have 100 acres of land to sell separately and the buyer was taking 12 extra acres.  6 months later, the deal still had not closed and the buyer was attempting to get stipulations placed on the rest of the acreage the sellers owned (no industrial, no trailers etc).  The sellers told the buyer that they would not put stipulations in place and gave the buyer a final closing date in  November.  The buyer refused to close as he wanted to negotiate more and he missed the final closing date (he had the home under contract for 6 months).  It's not that he couldn't close, he refused to close.  The sellers then sent the buyer a release form (which he refused to sign) and told him he could have his Ernest money back (which they didn't have to do).  The buyer never picked up the money and instead hired an attorney and is now suing the sellers for "misrepresenting the house and land".  As a result, the family cannot sell ANYTHING, not the home, not the 100 acres.  The sellers, after the contract expired, signed a new contract with new people and now they are unable to close due to the pending lawsuit.  Question: Can refusing to close and having your contract expire mean nothing if you refuse to sign the release form?  Can the original buyer still have a claim even though he did not do what he was supposed to because he won't sign the release?