Letter of Intent = Fact Question, Not a Contract
Posted
12:47 PM
by Michael Fox
The First Court of Appeals has an interesting discussion of the difficulty of finding a contract as a matter of law when there are disputed writings, particularly when one is called a letter of intent. See Electronic Bankcard Systems, Inc. v. Retriever Industries, Inc. (Ct. App. - Houston [1st] 1/30/03).
The Court also dealt with two other issues: 1) finding a fact question as to the existence of a contract for one year, that had continued to operate as the basis for the parties agreement for a number of years without a formal renwal, and 2) refusing to apply the continuing tort doctrine to keep a claim of tortious interference from being barred by the statute of limitations.