An agricultural company by Saskatchewan is asking the highest court in Canada to declare whether to respond to a contract proposal with an upward polish thumb is a legally binding firm.
Achter Land & Cattle Ltd, which grows and sells grain, previously appealed unsuccessfully a 2023 decision of the King Bank of Saskatchewan who declared that the producer had agreed to sell linen to a grain buyer from the South West terminal (SWT ) When he responded with a thumb emoji to a text that contains photos of a $ 58,000 contract.
Achter had sold Grain to SWT since 2012, according to judicial documents, and had responded with short phrases such as “ok”, looks good “and” yup “to previous contracts, which were subsequently honored.
The seller now requests that the Canada Supreme Court considers whether a thumb emoji or a similar message, combined with metadata that indicates who sent the text message, can be a legally binding firm.
“This case raises a matter of national and public importance of what constitutes an electronic signature in the digital age,” said the company in its application notice.
He is also arguing that the Supreme Court could provide guidance on what constitutes a valid electronic signature, and how the change to digital and electronic communication will affect daily commercial transactions in Canada.
The previous decision, the license to appeal says: “Eliminates any significant distinction” between signing a document and expressing agreement with the Emoji thumb up.
It is not clear if the Supreme Court will hear the case.
Josh Morrison, Swt’s lawyer, did not agree that the case is a issue of national importance.
“The facts here are unique because this was not a unique contract that was concluded in this way, it was a hiring pattern that is not so likely to be repeated in other places,” said Morrison.
“There is nothing, in my mind, novel. I mean, the only reason why this case was the holder of headlines was because it was a thumb up.”
CBC contacted Achter Land & Cattle for an interview, but did not receive an answer.
A fast current, Sask. Judge has ordered a farmer to pay $ 82,000 after violating an agreement made with a thumb emoji. It occurs after judicial documents show that he could not deliver to a grain buyer.
How we get here
In March 2021, a SWT employee called Kent Mickleborough sent a photo of the front of a double -facing contract for Chris Achter, the owner of Achter Land & Cattle, with a delivery period List like “Nov.”
The judicial documents show that Achter responded with an up -up polish emoji, but did not deliver 87 metric tons of linen in November, with a price of $ 17 by Bushel, as promised.
By November, the price of linen had more than duplicated.
The King court bank ruled in 2023 that Achter Land & Cattle must pay the SWT difference, around $ 82,200 in damages, more interest, due to the breach of contract and other costs.
The Saskatchewan Court of Appeals confirmed that decision in December 2024. In that decision, the court said that any change in laws around signatures must be decided by the legislature.
