Notice provisions in contracts matter. Oftentimes, contracts or legal documents contain notice provisions. If not, they should. The notice provision should include the address where the notice needs to be sent, any specified person the notice should be addressed to, and the vehicle for the delivery of the notice (e.g., e-mail, certified mail, overnight courier, a combination, etc.). Seems common sensical, right?

In a recent case, discussed here, an agreement dealing with an easement required one party to pay its share of maintenance within 30 days of its receipt of the demand for payment. If the party failed to pay, the easement was terminated. The problem was there was no notice provision or address for where the demand for payment should be sent in the agreement. Public records for the party showed two different addresses. Notice was only sent to one address and the person that signed for the “demand for payment” was arguably not even an agent of the party. Hence, a disputed issue of material fact that turned on the legal text as to whether the demand for payment was even received to allow for the termination of the easement.