• In a case involving two undeveloped house lots in a town west of Boston, the buyer's and seller's attorneys were working out the deal in emails and planned to have a paper version to seal the deal.
• The seller changed his mind at the last minute, but the buyer filed a claim to tie up the land, and the judge ruled that he had a case.
• Justice Douglas Wilkins wrote that the case had finally put a spotlight on the "intersection between the seventeenth century Statute of Frauds and twenty-first century electronic mail." ...

From the article:

Massachusetts courts have been grappling with the question of "when is a deal a deal" for a long time. With the vast majority of communication in real estate now done via email and other electronic means, it was just a matter of time before a court was faced with the question of whether and to what extent e-mails can constitute a binding and enforceable agreement to purchase and sell real estate. ...