{"id":936,"date":"2012-07-25T19:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-07-25T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/index.php\/2012\/07\/25\/massachusetts-emails-fulfill-statute-of-frauds-signature-requirements\/"},"modified":"2012-07-25T19:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-07-25T19:00:00","slug":"massachusetts-emails-fulfill-statute-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/massachusetts-emails-fulfill-statute-of.html","title":{"rendered":"Massachusetts: Emails Fulfill Statute of Frauds Signature Requirements"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>In real estate transactions, the statute of frauds generally requires that a signed writing be produced in order for the transaction to be valid and enforceable. The statute of frauds applies not only to real estate, but also goods worth more  than $500, and guarantees,&nbsp;as well as&nbsp;those that can\u2019t be performed  within one year.<\/p>\n<p>As we delve deeper into the electronic age, emails are increasingly used to enter into an confirm numerous transactions on a daily basis. The courts are just beginning to be confronted by the effect of emails, and the law on email communications is rapidly evolving.<\/p>\n<p>In a recent, the Massachusetts Superior Court found that an email exchange  among parties pursuing a real estate purchase transaction satisfied the  signature requirement embodied in the Statute of Frauds. In <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scribd.com\/doc\/98733228\/Feldberg-Et-Al-v-Coxall-ORDER-on-Plaintiff-s-Emergency-Motion-for-Endorsement-of-Memorandum-of-Lis-Pendens-01717406\" target=\"_blank\">Feldberg v. Coxall<\/a>,  buyers\u2019 counsel emailed to seller\u2019s counsel a proposed offer to  purchase real estate which included a financing contingency.&nbsp; The next  day, the seller emailed buyer\u2019s counsel directly, stating that if a  written approval letter from the buyer\u2019s lender was received by 5 p.m.,  \u201cI think we are ready to go.\u201d&nbsp; Buyer\u2019s counsel provided a lender\u2019s  commitment letter the same afternoon, before 5 p.m.<br \/>The transaction then fell apart, and the buyers ran to court to try to  protect their deal.&nbsp; The seller contended that the email exchange did  not satisfy the Statute of Frauds.<\/p>\n<p>In rendering its decision, Court noted that the courts have \u201cnot yet set  forth rules of the road for the intersection between the  seventeenth-century statute of frauds and twenty-first century  electronic mail.\u201d&nbsp; Calling the issue presented by the case one of first  impression, the court stated that the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.malegislature.gov\/Laws\/GeneralLaws\/PartI\/TitleXV\/Chapter110g\" target=\"_blank\">Massachusetts Uniform Electronic Transactions Act<\/a> (\u201cMUETA\u201d), was one attempt to provide those rules of the road to persons involved in real estate transactions.<\/p>\n<p>That statute applies to \u201ctransactions between parties each of which has  agreed to conduct transactions by electronic means,\u201d and under that  statute, whether the parties have so agreed is \u201cdetermined from the  context and surrounding circumstances, including the parties\u2019 conduct.\u201d&nbsp;  MUETA \u00a75.&nbsp; The Court noted that in using email to conduct negotiations,  the parties could be found to have agreed to conduct the transaction by  email.<\/p>\n<p>With regard to the signature requirement of the Statute of  Frauds, MUETA \u00a77(d) states that \u201cif a law requires a signature, an  electronic signature satisfies the law.\u201d&nbsp; An electronic signature is \u201can  electronic\u2026symbol or process attached to or logically associated with a  record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the  record.\u201d&nbsp; MUETA \u00a72.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Court, in an extraordinary finding, both an email signature  block, as well as the \u201cfrom\u201d portion of an email, may constitute a  signature under the statute.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In real estate transactions, the statute of frauds generally requires that a signed writing be produced in order for the transaction to be valid and enforceable. The statute of frauds applies not only to real estate, but also goods worth more than $500, and guarantees,&nbsp;as well as&nbsp;those that can\u2019t be performed within one year. As [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1550,1552,1551],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Massachusetts: Emails Fulfill Statute of Frauds Signature Requirements - Tools of the Trade | LienItNow Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In real estate transactions, the statute of frauds generally requires that a signed writing be produced in order for the transaction to be valid and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lienitnow.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/massachusetts-emails-fulfill-statute-of.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Massachusetts: Emails Fulfill Statute of Frauds Signature Requirements - 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