Emails can be enforceable, even if a contemplated contract is never signed

A recent case out of the Southern District of New York, Nusbaum v. E-Lo Sportswear LLC, 17-cv-3646 (KBF) (behind paywall), granted summary judgment based on a chain of emails between an employer and employee. The emails were discussing a severance provision, and the last email in the chain read in relevant part, “I am agreeing to the below . . . . I will sign when I get back.” The parties never executed any further document. 

The court nevertheless found an enforceable contract between them. Although it was true that the emails seemed to contemplate a final agreement, it was also true that both parties regarded the negotiations as concluded and the agreement reached at the time of the final email. The employee than spent nineteen months performing under this perceived agreement. It was clear from the emails that the parties had reached agreement on the material term, and the matter was not so complex that it needed to be reduced to a formal writing. Indeed, the employer admitted it usually did not reduce employment agreements to a formal writing. Therefore, the emails demonstrated that the parties had reached agreement and they were enforceable.