A Text Message Is a Writing, Too (Albeit with More Emojis)

As technology continues to evolve, so does the law, and a recent case out of Massachusetts, St. John’s Holdings, LLC v. Two Electronics, LLC, MISC 16-000090, proves it. Addressing what the court termed a “novel” question in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the court concluded that the text messages at issue in the case constituted writings for statutes of frauds purposes.

I have often thought that we communicate much more in writing these days than people did, say, twenty years ago. I know that it is now much more common for me to text the people I want to speak with than actually call them to speak orally. It will be interesting to see how the statute of frauds continues to develop.

(Thanks to Ben Cooper for sending this case my way!)