Opinion ID: 1576586
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Signature Issue

Text: Our task is to determine whether the addendum to the Agreement was valid and effective where Entergy is represented by a typed name of one of its employees. First we will address whether a cursive or handwritten signature by Entergy's representative was required in order for the addendum to be valid and effective. Written acts are of two kinds, authentic acts and acts under private signature. 5 SAUL LITVINOFF, LOUISIANA CIVIL LAW TREATISETHE LAW OF OBLIGATIONS § 12.11 (2d ed.2001). The addendum at issue clearly falls within the latter category. An act under private signature is one executed by the parties themselves without intervention of a public officer such as a notary public. LITVINOFF, § 12.26. An act under private signature need not be written by the parties, but must be signed by them. La. Civ.Code art. 1837. The signature of the parties is the only element the law requires to give evidentiary weight to an act privately executed by the parties. LITVINOFF, § 12.28. However, and of great significance to the matter before this Court, where a private act, rather than an authentic one, is concerned, a party's signature need not be handwritten, and a printed or electronically reproduced facsimile thereof may suffice, as is the case with contracts made in large numbers by one of the parties and executed in printed forms. LITVINOFF, § 12.28. Furthermore, where a statute requires a signature, a printed or typed signature is sufficient provided the signature was authorized and intended to constitute the signature. Reno v. Travelers Home and Marine Ins. Co., 02-2637, p. 4 (La. Ct.App. 1 Cir. 11/7/03), 867 So.2d 751, 754 ( citing Commerce Loan Co., Inc. v. Howard, 82 So.2d 487, 488 (La.App.Orl.1955), writ denied, (La.1955)); Fleming v. JE Merit Constructors, Inc., 07-926, p. 11 (La. Ct.App. 1 Cir. 3/29/08), 985 So.2d 141, 147. In the absence of a statute prescribing the method of affixing a signature, it may be written by hand, printed, stamped, typewritten, engraved, or by various other means. Reno, 02-2637 at p. 4, 867 So.2d at 754; Fleming, 07-926 at p. 11, 985 So.2d at 147. In Reno, the plaintiffs contended their rejection of underinsured motorist (UM) insurance coverage was invalid, because Mrs. Reno had printed both her and her husband's names on the waiver/rejection of UM coverage form, although the statute at that time required any rejection be signed by the insured or his legal representative. [6] Affirming the summary judgment, the appellate court rejected the plaintiffs' argument that their printed names were inadequate to bind them on the form. The court relied upon the following premises: A signature consists of both the act of writing one's name and of the intention of authenticating the instrument. Reno, 02-2637 at p. 5, 867 So.2d at 754 (emphasis by the court) (citing Action Finance Corp. v. Nichols, 180 So.2d 81, 83 (La. Ct.App. 2 Cir.1965)). Although a signature is printed by hand rather than written in cursive, this does not indicate a lack of genuineness. Reno, (citing Boykin v. DeSoto Parish Police Jury, 359 So.2d 239, 241 (La. Ct.App. 2 Cir.1978), writ denied, 360 So.2d 199 (La.1978)). It is merely a question of identity and a representation of a person's willingness to be bound. Reno, (citing Williamson v. Guice, 613 So.2d 797, 799 (La. Ct.App. 4 Cir.1993), writ denied, 617 So.2d 937 (La.1993); Smith v. Travelers Ins. Co., 560 So.2d 472, 474 (La. Ct.App. 1 Cir.1990), writ denied, 564 So.2d 325 (La.1990)). Additionally, Fleming is on point with the case sub judice. In Fleming, Dow Chemical Company, the entity claiming tort immunity as a statutory employer, had sent HBT, Inc., the contractor and injured employee's immediate employer, a letter on Dow's letterhead referencing the contract and including amending language to provide for statutory employee status as required by the recently amended Revised Statute 23:1061. That letter closed with: The Dow Chemical Company Louisiana Operations Daniel Bellard Purchasing Department The injured employee claimed the statutory employer letter was not a contract as contemplated by La. Rev.Stat. 23:1061 A(3) because it was not signed by a representative of Dow. The court rejected this argument, holding a printed or typed signature was sufficient provided it is authorized and intended to constitute the signature. Fleming, 07-926 at p. 11, 985 So.2d at 147. Because the court found the typed name was sufficient to constitute a signature where no one disputed Mr. Bellard had authority to sign the letter and it was abundantly clear the closing of the letter was intended to constitute a signature, Fleming, 07-926 at p. 11, 985 So.2d at 147, the court found it unnecessary to rule on whether the written document contemplated by La. Rev.Stat. 23:1061 A(3) requires the parties' signatures to be effective. Id., at n. 5. However, the record before this Court does not contain any evidence Bobbie Babin had authority to sign the letter on Entergy's behalf. Although we find the typewritten signature of Bobbie Babin on the addendum clearly offered by Entergy is sufficient if it was authorized and intended to constitute a signature, we now turn to a determination of whether the addendum is valid and effective based only upon the signature of ABB's representative. If the addendum is valid and effective with only ABB's signature, we need not remand this matter for a factual determination of whether Bobbie Babin had authority to sign on Entergy's behalf and whether it was intended the typewritten name constituted a signature. The addendum contains a signature of R.I. Beckman, V.P. Construction for ABB immediately underneath the phrase Agreed Upon by Contractor. Ronald Beckman's deposition was admitted into evidence at the trial of the statutory employer issue. Mr. Beckman testified he signed the addendum, he was authorized to bind ABB at the time he signed the addendum, and he intended to bind ABB to the addendum. When certain circumstances are present, a writing under private signature that contains a bilateral contract signed by only one of the parties may constitute written proof of that contract. LITVINOFF, § 12.29; 7 PLAINOL ET RIPERT, Traité Practique de droit Civil Francais 895 (2d ed.1954). It has long been held by our courts that a party who prepares the contract and presents it to the other party for their signature may not later claim he is not bound by the contract because his signature is lacking. Auto-Lec Stores, Inc. v. Ouachita Valley Camp, No. 10, W.O.W., 185 La. 876, 883, 171 So. 62, 64 (1936); Finishers Drywall, Inc. v. B & G Realty, Inc., 516 So.2d 420, 422 (La. Ct.App. 1 Cir.1987) (Defendant's argument there was a lack of evidence both parties agreed to the addendum because the addendum only bore plaintiff's signature was rejected because defendant prepared the addendum and sent it with a signature space only for the plaintiff.); Dyer v. Varnell, 121 So.2d 598, 599 (La. Ct.App. 2 Cir.1960). One who proposes the contract is bound if the offer is made in terms, whether by words, actions, silence or inaction, which evince a design to give the other party the right of concluding by assent and the other party timely assents. Knecht v. Bd. of Trustees for State Colleges and Universities and Northwestern State Univ., 591 So.2d 690, 694 (La.1991). With regard to a bilateral act signed by only one party, Professor Litvinoff explains: . . . [T]here is no clearer evidence of the existence of an obligation than its performance, either on its active side through the exercise of a right, or on its passive side through the fulfillment of the corresponding duty. If a party who did thusly perform were allowed to negate that he did so in accordance with a contract that prescribes that performance, on grounds that he did not sign the pertinent writing, then form would prevail over substance at the expense of fairness, and technicalities would excuse bad faith. The conclusion here discussed is consistent with the French doctrine of commencement de preuve par écrit  commencement of proof in writingaccording to which a party who does not sign a writing under private signature is nevertheless held to its terms if he has in any manner intellectually appropriated those terms. LITVINOFF, § 12.29 Considering Louisiana's jurisprudence and the scholarly authoritative writings of Professor Litvinoff, it cannot be held the addendum, which was prepared by Entergy and offered by Entergy to ABB for ABB's acceptance, is invalid and without effect for lack of Entergy's signature. Moreover, the Court of Appeal correctly held Big `A' Sand & Gravel Co., Inc. v. Bay Sand and Gravel Co., Inc., 282 So.2d 837 (La. Ct.App. 1 Cir. 1973) and Fredericks v. Fasnacht, 30 La. Ann. 117 (1878) did not apply to this case; the trial court erred in relying upon that jurisprudence to find the addendum must be signed by both parties to be perfected. As noted by the Court of Appeal, the rule a binding contract does not exist until the written agreement is confected and signed by both parties generally applies to the preparation and execution of a written agreement subsequent to the contracting parties' oral negotiations. Rainey, 06-816 at p. 7, 993 So.2d at 746. In Big `A' Sand & Gravel Co., the record reflected negotiations between the parties evidenced it was intended that any agreements reached by them would be incorporated in written contracts to be signed by all parties. Big `A' Sand & Gravel Co., 282 So.2d at 841. The court found overwhelming evidence the defendants had no intention of being bound until mutually satisfactory agreements were struck, reduced to writing and signed by all parties. Id. at 842. That court found support in and quoted from Breaux Bros. Constr. Co. v. Associated Contractors, Inc., 226 La. 720, 77 So.2d 17, 20 (1954): Since the parties in the instant case intended from the beginning to reduce their negotiations to a written contract, neither the plaintiff nor the defendant was bound until the contract was reduced to writing and signed by them. . . . [T]his case falls within the second class of cases discussed in Fredericks v. Fasnacht, supra , and therefore in this case the final consent of the parties was suspended until such time as the contract should be reduced to writing and signed by all the parties. (Emphasis supplied). Notable in Fredericks, and what the trial court in the case presently before us failed to realize, is the distinction made between contracts prepared after negotiations between the parties, where neither intends to be bound until there is a written contract, and verbal contracts which do not need to be reduced to writing. The Fredericks court wrote: . . . It is elementary in our law, that where the negotiations contemplate and provide that there shall be a contract in writing, neither party is bound until the writing is perfected and signed. The distinction is manifest between those cases in which there is a complete verbal contract, which the law does not require to be reduced to writing, and a subsequent agreement that it shall be reduced to writing, and those in which, as in this case, it is a part of the bargain that the contract shall be reduced to writing. In (the) first class of cases, the original verbal contract is in no manner impaired by the failure to carry out the subsequent agreement to put it in writing. In the second class of cases, the final consent is suspended; the contract is inchoate, incomplete, and it can not be enforced until it is signed by all the parties. Fredericks, 30 La. Ann. at 118 (emphasis supplied). Although the court was distinguishing between a written contract prepared subsequent to negotiations and verbal contracts, the rule that the written contract is not binding until the written contract is perfected and signed generally applies where the written contract is prepared subsequent to negotiations between the parties contemplating a written agreement. Consent is an elemental and essential component of any contract; requiring signatures in situations where a written contract is prepared after negotiations between the parties contemplating such would ensure the parties consented to the terms. Moreover, the court in Dyer v. Varnell, 121 So.2d 598, 599 (La. Ct.App. 2 Cir.1960), determined the progeny of Fredericks was inapplicable where the party that prepared the written contract of lease and presented it to the lessee, who signed it, claimed it was not executed because it lacked his signature. The party that prepared the contract and proposed its terms is bound even if his signature is missing. There is nothing in our Civil Code or civilian tradition requiring a signature by the party who prepared and offered the bilateral contract, where such contract was not prepared after negotiations between the parties with the intent to execute a written contract in order for that contract to be valid and effective. For the above and foregoing reasons, we find the addendum is valid and effective based solely upon the signature of ABB's representative, who testified he was authorized and intended to bind ABB at the time he signed the addendum. As an additional argument, Rainey urges the addendum lacked credibility so it should be given no evidentiary weight. Plaintiff correctly notes the entire remanded trial almost exclusively addressed the circumstances under which the letter/addendum was found and their attack upon the weight or credibility of the letter/addendum. Plaintiff contends the trial court did not find the addendum to be credible, because in its reasons for judgment the trial court wrote it did not dispute the fact that there existed a purported written addendum . . . even though there is some question as to the circumstances in which the addendum to the original contract was found. (emphasis plaintiff's) Contrary to plaintiff's argument, we find the single sentence in the trial court's written reasons for judgment is insufficient to support a finding the trial court made a credibility determination with regard to the addendum. We find the trial court could have referred to the purported addendum because it found the addendum to be legally insufficient. The sentence in the reasons for judgment is subject to interpretation and is not a clear and unequivocal expression by the trial court that it made a factual finding. It is clear from the trial court's reasons that its judgment denying the statutory employer tort immunity defense was based upon its finding the addendum did not meet the statutory requirement of a written contract because it was not signed by Entergy. We agree with the Court of Appeal's treatment of this issue. In concluding the addendum was not confected fraudulently, the Court of Appeal found although Beckman testified he did not personally date the addendum, he also testified, in accordance with standard operational procedure, an ABB representative would have dated the addendum no more than one day prior to his signing it. Although the appellate court did not mention it, we further note Beckman testified he did not sign papers that are misleading on dates. The appellate court further found it to be of no moment that Beckman may not have signed the addendum on the date written on the document. It found the transmittal letter attached to the deposition showed ABB had tendered the addendum to Entergy on March 10, 1998. Leaving aside the plaintiff's evidentiary objections to the admissibility of this proffered letter, we find Beckman's uncontradicted deposition testimony was sufficient to show he signed the document on or about March 10, 1998, almost a year before the subject accident. According to Beckman's testimony, he did not sign papers that were misleading on dates by more than one day. Thus, even if he actually signed the document on March 11, 1998, the written contract addendum was in existence at the time of the subject accident. Finally, the Court of Appeal found, despite the inability of Entergy's tracking software to indicate when the addendum was received and the addendum was located shortly before trial, these factual circumstances did not affect the validity of the document itself. There were no facts indicating that Entergy and ABB colluded to produce a forged document. Rainey, 06-816 at p. 11, 993 So.2d at 748. We further observe only three witnesses testified at the trial, and the bulk of the testimony was by John Braymer, Entergy's in-house counsel, who began the search for the addendum when he realized hired counsel was not presenting a statutory employer immunity defense. Braymer's testimony was uncontradicted; there was nothing in the record to discredit Braymer's testimony. We find no error in the appellate court's review.