Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: e-contracts

GE supports many retail-store charge cards and cardholders usually don't realize this, so it is possible that your balance is due to charges you or your wife made on such a card.

Did your wife apply for credit with this web site? If it opened a credit account in her name without her permission then it has violated several laws -- both civil and criminal. If your wife did authorize the account and the amount they billed is higher than what was represented to your wife, then the company has likely committed fraud. If the web service opened the account without permission, overcharged your wife and/or failed to perform as promised you should dispute the charge with GE. If nothing else, telling them that you never received a statement should be enough to get them to reverse any late charges and interest.

Depending upon the circumstances you might want to sue; if you are just one of many people in the same position then this may be a good class action lawsuit.

As for the on-line authorization, that by itself is not a problem. People authorize credit card purchases on-line and by telephone all the time, and they are obliged to pay their bills despite the lack of a physical signature -- provided, of course, that the charges are legitimate.

Re: e-contracts

Your question is whether a digital signature can be valid. The answer is yes, if both parties agree to accept a particular form of digital signature, then that form of digital signature is valid for the contractual purposes. President Clinton signed the bill into law shortly before leaving office.

If the merchant failed to provide goods or services after your wife promised to pay, then you may be able to reverse the charge by speaking with your credit card company. Most credit card companies allow you to dispute a charge up to 60 days after making the charge.