New York

Appellate Division, First Department Decides Case Regarding Emails within Settlement Context

By Matthew Lerner

In a holding I have not seen before, the Appellate Division, First Department held in Williamson v.Delsener that email exchanges between the plaintiff and defendant satisfied the statute of frauds and indicated that the parties agreed to settle the matter.  The Court reasoned that the emails between the parties' counsel contained the printed names and, therefore, constituted signed writings within the statute of frauds.  Also, the Court noted that the defendant's refusal to sign a general release or stipulation of discontinuance did not invalidate the settlement.

Full post as published by New York Civil Law on February 26, 2009 (boomark / email).