Commercial Litigation and Arbitration

Typed Signature at End of Email Satisfies Statute of Frauds

From R.D. Weis & Co. v. Children’s Place Retail Stores, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 94542 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 19, 2008) (dicta):

[Footnote] 2 The Court notes that even if no exception to the statute of frauds applies, the electronic signatures at the bottom of the e-mails may qualify as signed writings by TCP. Courts have held that a typed signature in an e-mail can qualify as a signed writing. Cloud Corp. v. Hasbro, Inc. , 314 F.3d 289 (7th Cir. 2002); Bazak Int'l Corp. v. Tarrant Apparel Group, 378 F. Supp. 2d 377 (S.D.N.Y. 2005); Rosenfeld v. Zerneck, 4 Misc. 3d 193, 195-96, 776 N.Y.S.2d 458, 460 (Sup. Ct. Kings Co. 2004) ("the sender's act of typing his name at the bottom of the e-mail manifested his intention to authenticate this transmission for statute of frauds purposes."). Still, the Court need not rule on whether this particular electronic signature satisfies the statute of frauds because the Complaint has raised facts implicating an exception to the statute of frauds.

See also our posts on this subject dated April 22, 2008; December 23, 2007; and October 3, 2007.

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