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From the article: Chris Achter, the owner of a farming company in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, had sent a thumbs-up emoji in response to a photograph of a flax

by fsh 3y ago

From the article: Chris Achter, the owner of a farming company in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, had sent a thumbs-up emoji in response to a photograph of a flax-buying contract from a grains buyer in 2021. Sending a written contract should provide more than enough context to the counterpart.

nivertech 3y ago
I'm talking about the context in the reply (outgoing message), not the context in the incomming message. The most obvious explanation is the confirmation of the recieval. > Mr Achter said he used it only to indicate that he had received the contract, but not to indicate his agreement. I also frequently have fat finger emojis in Slack, Discord or WhatsApp, now it's legally bounded? I live in the country with the Common Law system, but even worse than in Canada, as the judges here don't care about the written contracts. The former President of the Supreme Court even said something like "I don't care what's written in the contract", and basically had arbitrary rulings based on his own understandings. Because of that most tech companies here have an arbitration clause in contracts that all disputes will be resolved outside of our local jurisdiction. Usually in Delaware.
- sokoloff 3y ago
  > I also frequently have fat finger emojis in Slack, Discord or WhatsApp, now it's legally bounded? I would bet my business prospects that no court would conclude that a thumbs-up followed less than a minute later by a “disregard previous typo” message as binding acceptance. This is not some trick “no backsies” situation, but rather a case where a pattern of short acceptance messages was continued, just in picture form. Other than the defendant objecting after the fact, I think most reasonable people would look at the pattern of communication and reach the same conclusion the court did.
- krisoft 3y ago
  > I also frequently have fat finger emojis in Slack, Discord or WhatsApp, now it's legally bounded? No. The judge decided based on the specific facts of this specific case that in this context the emoji meant that the contract was accepted. You can read the judgement here: https://images.assettype.com/barandbench/2023-07/17ed50ce-4edd-472a-be49-91d1c5e6b402/South_West_Terminal_Ltd_v_Achter_Land___Cattle_Ltd.pdf https://images.assettype.com/barandbench/2023-07/17ed50ce-4e... quote: "What sets this case apart is the use of a thumbs up emoji “<thumbs up emoji>” and what that meant in the context of the specific facts of this law suit." > The most obvious explanation is the confirmation of the recieval. This was not the understanding of the judge on a balance of probabilities in this specific case. This is the relevant quote from the judgement: "So in short, what we have is an uncontested pattern of entering into what both parties knew and accepted to be valid and binding deferred delivery purchase contracts on a number of occasions. It is important to note that each time Kent added to the offered contract “Please confirm terms of durum contract” and Chris did so by succinctly texting “looks good”, “ok” or “yup”. The parties clearly understood these curt words were meant to be confirmation of the contract and not a mere acknowledgement of the receipt of the contract by Chris. There can be no other logical or creditable explanation because the proof is in the pudding. Chris delivered the grain as contracted and got paid. There was no evidence he was merely confirming the receipt of a contract and was left just wondering about a contract." Thus if you want to avoid accidentally accepting a contract by fat-fingering an emoji, then do not accept contracts with short words like "yup". Rather insist on more formality. Simple as that. If Chris would have said in previous occasions "that sounds about right, send it over as PDF, and I will send you back a signed PDF" that would have probably been enough to convince the judge that the simple thumbs up emoji was not meant as confirmation of receipt.
- labcomputer 3y ago
  > > Mr Achter said he used it only to indicate that he had received the contract, but not to indicate his agreement. Yea, he said that. After the spot price of his commodity nearly tripled compared to when he accepted the contract several months earlier. And after half a decade of accepting similar contracts with similarly-terse replies. > I also frequently have fat finger emojis in Slack, Discord or WhatsApp, now it's legally bounded? I imagine that if he had quickly (within a day or so) followed up with "oops, fat-fingered that", the contract would have been voided.

by fsh 3y ago

nivertech 3y ago

I'm talking about the context in the reply (outgoing message), not the context in the incomming message. The most obvious explanation is the confirmation of the recieval. > Mr Achter said he used it only to indicate that he had received the contract, but not to indicate his agreement. I also frequently have fat finger emojis in Slack, Discord or WhatsApp, now it's legally bounded? I live in the country with the Common Law system, but even worse than in Canada, as the judges here don't care about the written contracts. The former President of the Supreme Court even said something like "I don't care what's written in the contract", and basically had arbitrary rulings based on his own understandings. Because of that most tech companies here have an arbitration clause in contracts that all disputes will be resolved outside of our local jurisdiction. Usually in Delaware.

sokoloff 3y ago
> I also frequently have fat finger emojis in Slack, Discord or WhatsApp, now it's legally bounded? I would bet my business prospects that no court would conclude that a thumbs-up followed less than a minute later by a “disregard previous typo” message as binding acceptance. This is not some trick “no backsies” situation, but rather a case where a pattern of short acceptance messages was continued, just in picture form. Other than the defendant objecting after the fact, I think most reasonable people would look at the pattern of communication and reach the same conclusion the court did.
krisoft 3y ago
> I also frequently have fat finger emojis in Slack, Discord or WhatsApp, now it's legally bounded? No. The judge decided based on the specific facts of this specific case that in this context the emoji meant that the contract was accepted. You can read the judgement here: https://images.assettype.com/barandbench/2023-07/17ed50ce-4edd-472a-be49-91d1c5e6b402/South_West_Terminal_Ltd_v_Achter_Land___Cattle_Ltd.pdf https://images.assettype.com/barandbench/2023-07/17ed50ce-4e... quote: "What sets this case apart is the use of a thumbs up emoji “<thumbs up emoji>” and what that meant in the context of the specific facts of this law suit." > The most obvious explanation is the confirmation of the recieval. This was not the understanding of the judge on a balance of probabilities in this specific case. This is the relevant quote from the judgement: "So in short, what we have is an uncontested pattern of entering into what both parties knew and accepted to be valid and binding deferred delivery purchase contracts on a number of occasions. It is important to note that each time Kent added to the offered contract “Please confirm terms of durum contract” and Chris did so by succinctly texting “looks good”, “ok” or “yup”. The parties clearly understood these curt words were meant to be confirmation of the contract and not a mere acknowledgement of the receipt of the contract by Chris. There can be no other logical or creditable explanation because the proof is in the pudding. Chris delivered the grain as contracted and got paid. There was no evidence he was merely confirming the receipt of a contract and was left just wondering about a contract." Thus if you want to avoid accidentally accepting a contract by fat-fingering an emoji, then do not accept contracts with short words like "yup". Rather insist on more formality. Simple as that. If Chris would have said in previous occasions "that sounds about right, send it over as PDF, and I will send you back a signed PDF" that would have probably been enough to convince the judge that the simple thumbs up emoji was not meant as confirmation of receipt.
labcomputer 3y ago
> > Mr Achter said he used it only to indicate that he had received the contract, but not to indicate his agreement. Yea, he said that. After the spot price of his commodity nearly tripled compared to when he accepted the contract several months earlier. And after half a decade of accepting similar contracts with similarly-terse replies. > I also frequently have fat finger emojis in Slack, Discord or WhatsApp, now it's legally bounded? I imagine that if he had quickly (within a day or so) followed up with "oops, fat-fingered that", the contract would have been voided.