Legal Question in Technology Law in Idaho

Admissability of E=Mail

In Pennsylvania email should be admissableif it can be authenticated that it was sentby the person you seek to hold it against.

You need to establish such authication from the party who wrote it. The problem as I seeit is to establish that the party whose e mailwas received could deny sending it. In that caseyou would not offer it as an admission againstthe party only to acknowledge that you reliedupon the message and could action based on it.In that case it would be admissable.

email admissibility

I can hardly do any better than quote, with kind permission, an FAQ written by a colleague:

I think the formatting may get a little rough, but the substance is what you're looking for, I hope:

-- Questions of proof

A difficult question for many people to grasp is that the admissibility of adocument into evidence, or its usefulness as proof of a contract or otherrelationship between the parties, is generally a separate issue from factualquestions regarding the authenticity of the document. While electronicdocuments can be altered or forged, so can hard-copy documents. From anevidentiary standpoint, hard-copy documents are not particularly "better." Inevery case, the "default setting" is a presumption that documents (in whateverform) are genuine and are what they purport to be. If there is a questionabout the genuineness of a document, in whatever form, that question is aquestion of fact, not of law, and it will generally be the burden of the partyopposing the document to demonstrate that it has been altered or forged.

-- Conclusion

Electronic business documents and signatures are generally valid and admissiblein evidence for virtually all purposes, except in those few cases for which anoriginal signed writing is required (such as a will or deed).

Because the laws of evidence and contracts varies from state to state, a personwho may have valuable rights affected by these matters should consult with anattorney who specializes in such matters. The foregoing should not beconstrued as legal advice, which can only be given by an attorney who isadmitted to practice in your state, to whom you pay a fee, and who in returnundertakes to protect your rights and to explain your responsibilities.