It’s a little wild that they’re going to bind contracts by text. Last thing I need is someone replying for me because I’m busy, and now I’m in a contract.
The crux of the case was the defendant had previously accepted contracts via text message with responses like “ok”, “yup”, and “looks good”. All of those contracts were successfully completed.
IMO he was looking to back out of the contract because he could get $41 / bushel instead of the $17 that was in the contract.
The problem is that he had set the precedent. If you have the clear precedent that the text is only acknowledging that the contract is ready for you to look over then the judge would’ve likely ruled the other way.
If you’re diligent that you always properly actually sign the contracts, that you’re never giving final confirmation by way of a one word text. Then it’s unlikely you’d get legally binding in this situation.
Besides, in this case the farmer was definitely in the wrong. He was trying to pull a sneaky because the cash price was over double the contract price at time of delivery. It wouldn’t be any different if he had properly signed the contract except that he couldn’t try the “but I never actually signed it” excuse.
He should’ve just ate the contract cancelation fee if he wanted to ride the crazy price. Plenty of other people did just that and there was minimal legal shenanigans involved.
As a counterpoint, it would be quite unfair for the law to allow people to breach their agreements purely based on the medium used to enter into an otherwise valid contract.
E.g., what if the non-breaching person had invested considerable time or money complying with their end of the bargain in reliance on the promise? What if, as I understand the case was here, the parties completed multiple agreements over text and came to rely on that medium as the convention?
In any event, the analysis leaves a lot of room for a judge to consider the factual background and reach a fair outcome.
It’s a little wild that they’re going to bind contracts by text. Last thing I need is someone replying for me because I’m busy, and now I’m in a contract.
The crux of the case was the defendant had previously accepted contracts via text message with responses like “ok”, “yup”, and “looks good”. All of those contracts were successfully completed.
IMO he was looking to back out of the contract because he could get $41 / bushel instead of the $17 that was in the contract.
The problem is that he had set the precedent. If you have the clear precedent that the text is only acknowledging that the contract is ready for you to look over then the judge would’ve likely ruled the other way.
If you’re diligent that you always properly actually sign the contracts, that you’re never giving final confirmation by way of a one word text. Then it’s unlikely you’d get legally binding in this situation.
Besides, in this case the farmer was definitely in the wrong. He was trying to pull a sneaky because the cash price was over double the contract price at time of delivery. It wouldn’t be any different if he had properly signed the contract except that he couldn’t try the “but I never actually signed it” excuse.
He should’ve just ate the contract cancelation fee if he wanted to ride the crazy price. Plenty of other people did just that and there was minimal legal shenanigans involved.
As a counterpoint, it would be quite unfair for the law to allow people to breach their agreements purely based on the medium used to enter into an otherwise valid contract.
E.g., what if the non-breaching person had invested considerable time or money complying with their end of the bargain in reliance on the promise? What if, as I understand the case was here, the parties completed multiple agreements over text and came to rely on that medium as the convention?
In any event, the analysis leaves a lot of room for a judge to consider the factual background and reach a fair outcome.