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American Contract Law for a Global Age, 2017a

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Problem 14.3<br />

Van der Rohe USA, Inc. (VRUSA) is the <strong>American</strong> division of a Dutch<br />

corporation, Van der Rohe N.V. 7 VRUSA operates specialty female clothing stores<br />

under its “Le Corbusier” brand in shopping malls in the Northeastern United States.<br />

Its corporate offices are in White Plains, New York. VRUSA has a corporate email<br />

system. Per company policy, the system automatically attaches the name and contact<br />

in<strong>for</strong>mation of the sender at the foot of every email that is sent. Employees cannot<br />

disable the system. The system automatically attaches a confidentiality and privacy<br />

notice at the bottom that employees also cannot remove.<br />

Les Ismore is a real estate professional in the VRUSA home office, responsible<br />

<strong>for</strong> negotiating shopping mall leases <strong>for</strong> VRUSA. Les is in negotiations with<br />

Onondaga Mills LLC, the operator of a major upscale shopping mall near Syracuse,<br />

New York, <strong>for</strong> a 10-year-lease. Les and his counterpart at Onondaga, Alice Sells, have<br />

been exchanging communications and draft agreements <strong>for</strong> about a month. On June<br />

1, Alice sends Les a revised “Lease Agreement” that incorporates the results of their<br />

various discussions. The lease is 19 pages long and very detailed. It has blocks <strong>for</strong> the<br />

signatures of Alice and Les as authorized representatives of their respective<br />

companies. Alice sends an unsigned copy to Les as an email attachment. Her email<br />

reads:<br />

From: Sells, Alice <br />

Sent: Thursday, June 1, 20XX 9:32 AM<br />

To:<br />

Ismore, Les<br />

Cc:<br />

Vark, Jonah<br />

Subject: OM Lease 24-451 Le Corbusier<br />

Hi, Les. Attached is the final agreement we reached. It incorporates<br />

all the stuff we talked about. I am glad we could work out all the<br />

details and delighted Corbusier is going to be part of our<br />

outstanding lineup of stores at OM. It’s been a pleasure working<br />

with you. I am copying Jonah, the OM operations manager so he can<br />

start the process of getting you in. Thanks again.<br />

Alice<br />

Sent from my eFone by my personal assistant, Mari<br />

An hour later Les sends the following response, reprinted in its entirety:<br />

From: Ismore, Les <br />

Sent: Thursday, June 1, 20XX 10:44 AM<br />

To:<br />

Sells, Alice<br />

Cc:<br />

Subject: Re: OM Lease 24-451 Le Corbusier<br />

Looks good. Glad we have a contract, great to be in Syracuse. Will<br />

be back in touch ASAP.<br />

7 [Abbreviation <strong>for</strong> Naamloze vennootschap—roughly “anonymous partnership”—the<br />

Netherlands equivalent of an <strong>American</strong> publicly held corporation. – Eds.]<br />

______________________________________________________________________________<br />

280 CHAPTER V: CONTRACT DEFENSES

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