Many companies, during the course of conducting their regular business, form numerous agreements for the sale of goods with other parties, such as clients or other businesses. When a party a business has such an agreement which fails to meet the terms of the agreement, one question a business may have is: can legal action be taken to enforce the agreement?
There are many things that can impact whether a given sale of goods agreement is a legally enforceable contract here in Michigan. In some situations, one such thing is whether the agreement is in writing.
Now, not all contracts need to be in writing to be enforceable. However, Michigan law does put a writing requirement in place for some types of contracts. Such a requirement is in place for sale of goods contracts that are above a certain amount.
Specifically, under state law, a sale of goods contract typically needs to be supported by a signed writing (signed by the party enforcement is sought against) in order to be enforceable if the contract is for $1,000 or more. As a note, there are a few exceptions under which an unwritten sale of goods contract for such an amount could still be deemed enforceable.
Thus, whether a given sale of goods contract is legally enforceable can sometimes be a complex question. Attorneys can help businesses that have experienced a broken agreement look into whether the agreement is an enforceable contract and, if it is, what enforcement actions they can pursue.