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Re: the usual email disclaimer nonsense, was LTANS WG Last Call

An upfront disclaimer, I'm not a lawyer, just a law student with a great deal of interest in tech. I've been following this exchange with some interest and decided to look into it. I've found a couple situations where email boilerplate has legal significance. The best example that I've come across so far is Angelo, Gordon & Co., L.P. v. Dycom Indus., 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15784 (S.D.N.Y 2006), where an email boilerplate disclaimer was used as evidence weighing against the finding of a binding contract between the parties.

You're right about the attorney duty to return mis-sent documents, but there are many other legal situations where email footers can be necessary for different reasons ( i.e. to prevent an attorney-client relationship from being formed over email, statutorily mandated disclaimers for stockbroker promotions, etc.).

All I can say in this context is that it seems like the email footer boilerplate would have some sort of legal effect in the US, but from the lack of precedent on the matter, its hard to say what and how much effect.

Regards,
C.T. Aiken

On 21 Jun 2007 21:30:18 -0000, John Levine <johnl at iecc.com> wrote:
> >That said - Harald - either document that there is precedent in US Law to
> >set aside the disclaimer statement in the Tobias' email or back off the
> >commentary ...
>
> Seems to me it's first incumbent on you to show that disclaimers in
> e-mail have any effect whatsoever.  Can you show any US case or
> statute law?
>
> My understanding is that when attorneys are sending each other faxes,
> they put on this sort of notice because as a matter of professional
> ethics, they're supposed to return faxes sent to each other in error,
> which happens a fair amount due to hitting the wrong speed dialing
> button.
>
> But despite asking this question all over the place for many years, I
> have never found any reason to believe that they mean anything when
> sent in e-mail, nor that even in a fax that they affect anyone other
> than another attorney.  I sure don't pay any attention to them.
>
> R's,
> John
>
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