Legal Question in Business Law in Minnesota

Re: contract laws

In one way or another, your question raises issues with about half the material they teach in a first year law school contracts course.

The fact that a change was made and not initialed would be some evidence that the non-initialing party did not agree to the change - but in many cases it would not be conclusive.

For one thing, lots of contracts don't even have to be in writing. Some are formed verbally. Sometimes a contract is formed because individuals interact with each other in a way that triggers certain business customs and usages of the type of trade that is involved.

Some types of contracts are heavily regulated by statute, others are not. For example, consumer transactions tend to be heavily regulated. Automobile transactaions have more rules and regulations than you can shake a stick at.

Contracts between businesses tend to be less regulated, but that varys too depending on what kind of business it is.

How the parties act and what they do can make a difference too. The paper may not represent a meeting of the minds, but then money changes hands and parties perform in certain ways as if they had a contract. If they are acting as if they have a contract, the law will probably say it is one.

I would have to have a lot more information before I could give you an answer to your question that would be worth much.

Good luck.

Re: contract laws

Basic contract law requires threee elements. An offer. An acceptance of the offer and consideration which is a binding legal detriment.

When you write a contract and send it to another party, signed or unsigned, it is an offer. If the other party adds terms and sends it back, it is not an acceptance, but a counter offer. THat counter offer may on;ly become a binding contract if (1) you agree to the new terms verbally or in writing; or (2) you allow performance to occur on the contract implicitly accepting the new terms.

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