Canadian judge says thumbs-up emoji amounts to contract acceptance
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Canadian judge says thumbs-up emoji amounts to contract acceptance
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Re: Canadian judge says thumbs-up emoji amounts to contract acceptance
#2Would this be equivalent to a "gentlemen's agreement"? Is that a thing in Canada? It was or is in England AFAIK. I don't think that would work in the US. It is still not clear to me how legal documents on document sharing platforms are legally enforceable when signed by clicking buttons. I would expect a public notary to show up with hard copies for me to sign and photo-copy my state ID but that is not consistent any more, or at least since Covid.
Do we need to start adding AI of text messages that detect when one may be accidentally accepting legal obligations and force the person to recite a hymn and hit their forehead with their phone in order to send a thumbs-up? ~Pie Jesu domine, dona eis requiem~
Re: Canadian judge says thumbs-up emoji amounts to contract acceptance
#3It was not "just" a thumbs up emoji, there were preceding negotiations as well. Sort of important...
Re: Canadian judge says thumbs-up emoji amounts to contract acceptance
#4Recent Canadian court rulings have made me wonder if I live in an extremely US-system mindset; it is hard to understand the logic here.
The buyer was concerned about this transaction, it seems - they sent a message asking:
“please confirm flax contract”
In response they did not get a contract. They got a thumbs up. What's next, text a thumbs up to a car salesman who is trying to get you to agree to a deal and now you've signed the contract? Contracts have much more in them than a text message could convey. Perhaps I'm being to legalistic, but this is a court matter.
Re: Canadian judge says thumbs-up emoji amounts to contract acceptance
#5It was not "just" a thumbs up emoji, there were preceding negotiations as well. Sort of important...
It seems the negotiations and previous history of transactions is what the court decided was most persuasive, but I'm surprised that a non-signed contract was considered signed with any sort of non-textual response.
Hypothetical response: "Got the contract. Will send a signed copy ASAP!"
Did this accept and sign the contract? What if the sender of that text reads the contract before signing and realizes a mistake, misunderstanding, etc.? That seems to be the defense here, although they lost.
Re: Canadian judge says thumbs-up emoji amounts to contract acceptance
#6I was just discussing using timestamps or not on digital signatures. I guess we'll go with likes now.
Re: Canadian judge says thumbs-up emoji amounts to contract acceptance
#7It was not "just" a thumbs up emoji, there were preceding negotiations as well. Sort of important...
And a history of similar negotiations being honored and fulfilled by the farmer/seller meaning the buyer could reasonably expect the contract had been agreed to as it had in the past.
Re: Canadian judge says thumbs-up emoji amounts to contract acceptance
#8Would this be equivalent to a "gentlemen's agreement" ? Is that a thing in Canada? It was or is in England AFAIK. I don't think that would work in the US. It is still not clear to me how legal documents on document sharing platforms are legally enforceable when signed by clicking buttons. I would expect a public notary to show up with hard copies for me to sign and photo-copy my state ID but that is not consistent an…
Yes anything type of acknowledge that is reasonable can be viewed as agreement in Canada under law but to prove it, if there is a dispute, it is best to have it in some reproducible form.
For a contract you need an exhchange of value in both directions and an agreement. It can be completely verbal and enforceable if you can prove that both parties knowingly and reasonably consented to it.
I think the requirements for consent go up as the agreement becomes more exploitive/one sided though.
Re: Canadian judge says thumbs-up emoji amounts to contract acceptance
#9Would this be equivalent to a "gentlemen's agreement" ? Is that a thing in Canada? It was or is in England AFAIK. I don't think that would work in the US. It is still not clear to me how legal documents on document sharing platforms are legally enforceable when signed by clicking buttons. I would expect a public notary to show up with hard copies for me to sign and photo-copy my state ID but that is not consistent an…
You certainly don't need a notarized physically signed copy to have a valid contract in the US.
That makes it easier to prove you have a valid contract, but even just a verbal agreement can be an enforceable contract.
Re: Canadian judge says thumbs-up emoji amounts to contract acceptance
#10Verbal agreements are legally binding in a lot of cases, so it makes sense that a thumbs up message would be as well.
> The buyer, Kent Mickleborough, later spoke with Swift Current farmer Chris Achter on the phone and texted a picture of a contract to deliver the flax in November, adding “please confirm flax contract.”
> Achter texted back a thumbs-up emoji. But when November came around, the flax was not delivered and prices for the crop had increased.
Combine this with their past communication in the same manner and it seems pretty clear cut that both parties knew what they were getting into.