Interesting.  Thanks David.

I think the court is saying an email *could* be used to renew a lease, but
it can't in this case because an email - according to the court - does not
have the same standing as a "writing" ... a physical thing with signatures
... which is what the contract language required.  If the parties had chosen
to include language in the contract stating email is ok, then it woudn't be
an issue.

So, the real issue is the contract language and the court's interpretation
of what a "writing" is or isn't.

And yes, this opinion is based on Alabama law since that is the governing
authority for the contract (or so it appears).

I think the lesson here is to be clear in contract language and define those
terms that may be easily interpreted differently (not necessarily
mis-interpreted) by different people/attorneys/courts.

One last thought - I assume this has become an issue because the debtor has
possession of the facility yet will now be afforded some protection under
the Bankruptcy law which puts the creditor in a position of loss (reduced
rent, or something).  If the debtor hadn't filed bankruptcy and the creditor
was getting paid its rent, the renewal of the lease would have carried out
in effect (which tells me that the parties themselves inteded to renew the
lease via email, which in my opinion should have bearing on the courts
opinion - but what do I know, I'm not a lawyer!).

Happy Wednesday!
Julie

-- 
Julie J. Colgan, CRM

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