Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California
Email Signatures
If you are asked to agree to something in an email, and knowlingly ''sign'' the email with a typed name, or signature, is that considered a legal, binding signature? The question has arisen due to four siblings who must agree to dollar figures that each one has submitted to a Probate Court in the settling of their parents estate. These four siblings are spread all over the hemisphere. They have turned in their loan amounts, and written that they are in agreement to the dollar amounts submitted by each one and typed their names at the end of the email. Can this be contested later by one or all of them refusing to honor their email, stating that they didn't ''sign'' it?
Thanks so much for your help.
3 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Email Signatures
I think each is bound by the typed name that he or she put on the email. A Pennsylvania court held that a party's printed or typewritten name in a telegram satisfies the statute of frauds requring a writing for a real estate transaction. Hessenthaler v. Farzin (1989) 388 Pa.Super. 37, 564 A.2d 990, 993-994. Another such case includes Hillstrom v. Gosnay (1980) 188 Mont. 388, 614 P.2d 466, 470. It would be easier if the person were to acknowledge that he or she entered the name in the email and intended the result, even if later the person desired to back out of the transaction. See, e.g., Donovan v. RRL Corp., 26 Cal.4th 261, 264 (2001). Maybe my colleagues could chime in on this one.
Re: Email Signatures
In 2000, a new federal law was enacted called the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act. Known as "E-SIGN," the law gives electronic signatures, contracts and records the same validity as their handwritten and hard copy counterparts.
Altough your situation her is not exactly the same, even basic contract law tells us that the agreement should be enforceable if there is a meeting of the minds. Contracts can be verbal, written or implied by law. Your description gives the impression the four siblings were engaged in settlement discussions to resolve how much each of them should receive from the estate. Presumably the parents loaned money to their kids and now it is time to settle up. If there was agreement in lieu of litigation on probate court, I don't see why you wouldn't have an agreement unless there is some nuance unique to probate law that I am not aware of.
Re: Email Signatures
California has adopted the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, see Cal. Civil Code ��1633.1 - 1633.17, especially 1633.7 (you can search California codes at http:///www.leginfo.ca.gov):
1633.7. (a) A record or signature may not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form.
(b) A contract may not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because an electronic record was used in its formation.
(c) If a law requires a record to be in writing, an electronic record satisfies the law.
(d) If a law requires a signature, an electronic signature satisfies the law.
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