Certain contracts must be in writing and signed. Among them are
contracts for the sale of real estate, contracts for the sale of
goods for a price in excess of $500, and contracts to “answer
for the debt of another,” such as a guaranty. But what if the
“writing” is an email exchange? Is that enforceable,
and if so, then what suffices as the signature?
Florida has adopted the Uniform Electronic Transaction Act
(UETA), which states that if a law requires a contract to be in
writing, then an electronic record is sufficient to constitute a
writing, and that if a law requires a writing to be signed, then an
electronic signature is sufficient to constitute a signature. The
UETA also states that an “electronic signature”
includes a “symbol… attached to or logically
associated with a record and executed or adopted by a person with
the intent to sign the record.”
