In an odd electronic signature (eSignature) context, on December 30, 2014 a California appellate court reversed a trial court’s upholding of a settlement agreement based on a typewritten name in an email string.    See J.B.B. Investment Partners v. Fair, 2014 WL 7421609 (Cal. App. 1st Dist. 12/30/14).

The circumstances made clear to the appeals court that the parties were anticipating a wet signature on a line on the email attachment; and the gist of the string was that there had not been an expressed intent to formalize the settlement agreement.   In part, the J.B.B. court interepreted the California version of the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act

However, this recent California decision did cite with approval other states’ decisions holding that “names typed at the end of e-mails can be electronic signatures.” (emphasis added).

To learn more about eSignatures law and technology, please visit my eSignatures Bibliography (online library).