Despite its enactment in 2004 in most all of the 50 states, the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (“UETA”) has not received the amount of attention one might expect. This is particularly true with respect to real estate transactions, for which it seems an overwhelming majority of real estate agents, brokers, realtors and others in the industry still think that “[t]he statute of frauds … requires some memorandum or note of the agreement relating to real estate to be in writing and signed by the party charged therewith or his agent.” For example, even the first source for legal research in South Carolina, S.C. Jurisprudence, the chapter on the Statute of Frauds, makes no mention of the UETA, its statutory origin at S.C. Code § 26-6-10 et seq., or its potential significance to parties negotiating a contract via email. In 2015, the vast majority of real estate transactions, whether residential or commercial, are handled by email.

According to the NCSL, 47 of the 50 states have enacted the UETA, with New York, Illinois and Washington being the exceptions, and even those states have enacted similar legislation.

Once again, despite the UETA being over 10 years old, and despite the fact that most UETA’s do not provide an exception to the applicability of the Act to “contracts for the sale of real property,” only a handful of cases can be found interpreting the UETA in conjunction with the well known SOF. Continue reading “What about the Statute of Frauds (?), said the “Uniform Electronic Transactions Act” (UETA)”