CopyCited 19 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Dec 20, 2022
...ed in its
formation,” OCGA §
10-12-7 (b), and that “[i]f a law requires a record to be in
writing, an electronic record shall satisfy the law,” OCGA §
10-12-7 (c). An e-
mail satisfies the definition of an “[e]lectronic record.” See OCGA §
10-12-2 (7)
(“‘Electronic record’ means a record created, generated, sent, communicated,
received, or stored by electronic means.”).
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(providing that each state agency “shall determine whether, a...
...apply to electronic records and electronic signatures relating to a
transaction.” In turn, a “[t]ransaction” is defined as “an action or set
of actions occurring between two or more persons relating to the
conduct of business, commercial, or governmental affairs.” OCGA §
10-12-2 (16)....
...association, joint venture, governmental agency, public corporation,
11 The State does not claim that any of the exceptions under subsection
(b) apply here.
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or any other legal or commercial entity.” OCGA §
10-12-2 (12).
“Governmental agency” is further defined as “an executive,
legislative, or judicial agency, department, board, commission,
authority, institution, or instrumentality of the federal government
or of a state or of a county, municipality, or other political
subdivision of a state.” OCGA §
10-12-2 (9)....
...pted the
GUETA in order for its provisions to apply. Instead, we conclude
that, because the term “transaction” in the GUETA is defined to
include actions between two or more persons relating to the conduct
of “governmental affairs,” OCGA §
10-12-2 (16), and the term
“person” is defined to include a “governmental agency,” OCGA § 10-
12-2 (12), when a governmental agency such as the Department of
Law is engaged in a transaction within the scope of the GUETA, see
OCGA § 1...
...required a signed writing in order to waive sovereign immunity.
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sound, symbol, or process attached to or logically associated with a
record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign
the record.” OCGA §
10-12-2 (8)....
...the e-mail, that contained her manually-typed name at the
conclusion of the e-mail, and that was in the same e-mail exchange
as Burton’s e-mail containing the terms of the Agreement.
Accordingly, after applying the plain meaning of OCGA §§
10-12-7
(d) and
10-12-2 (8) to these facts, we conclude that the requirements
for an electronic signature under the GUETA have been met with
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regard to both Burton and Graham.14 See Intl....
