Zammuto v. Damianidis (Massachusetts Appeals Court Holds Emailed Settlement Binding, Orders $100K Paid)
The Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled on October 1, 2026 that two property owners were bound by a settlement reached almost entirely through email exchanges between counsel, and must pay $100,000 to the developer who had agreed to buy their land for an apartment project before a title dispute derailed the sale. The court held the sellers could not avoid the payment by withdrawing from a related sale to a third-party buyer that the settlement's payment term depended on, since the sellers themselves caused that sale to fail.
Why it matters
The decision confirms that settlement terms confirmed by email between counsel -- without a final, fully executed multi-party document -- can be binding once the parties' conduct shows mutual assent, a practical risk for any real estate litigator negotiating a multi-party settlement informally. It also shows that a party who controls whether a dependent transaction closes cannot rely on that transaction's failure, if self-inflicted, as an excuse to avoid a settlement payment built around it.
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