Common use of Electronic Execution; Communications Clause in Contracts

Electronic Execution; Communications. This Agreement, any other Loan Document, and any other Communication, including Communications required to be in writing, may be in the form of an Electronic Record and may be executed using Electronic Signatures. Each Loan Party and the Lender agrees that any Electronic Signature on or associated with any Communication shall be valid and binding on such Person to the same extent as a manual, original signature, and that any Communication entered into by Electronic Signature, will constitute the legal, valid and binding obligation of such Person enforceable against such Person in accordance with the terms thereof to the same extent as if a manually executed original signature was delivered. Any Communication may be executed in as many counterparts as necessary or convenient, including both paper and electronic counterparts, but all such counterparts are one and the same Communication. For the avoidance of doubt, the authorization under this Section 10.17 may include use or acceptance of a manually signed paper Communication which has been converted into electronic form (such as scanned into .pdf format), or an electronically signed Communication converted into another format, for transmission, delivery and/or retention. The Lender may, at its option, create one or more copies of any Communication in the form of an imaged Electronic Record (“Electronic Copy”), which shall be deemed created in the ordinary course of the Lender’s business, and destroy the original paper document. All Communications in the form of an Electronic Record, including an Electronic Copy, shall be considered an original for all purposes, and shall have the same legal effect, validity and enforceability as a paper record. Notwithstanding anything contained herein to the contrary, the Lender is under no obligation to accept an Electronic Signature in any form or in any format unless expressly agreed to by the Lender pursuant to procedures approved by it; provided, that, without limiting the foregoing, (a) to the extent the Lender has agreed to accept such Electronic Signature, the Lender shall be entitled to rely on any such Electronic Signature purportedly given by or on behalf of any Loan Party without further verification and regardless of the appearance or form of such Electronic Signature, and (b) upon the request of the Lender, Electronic Signature shall be promptly followed by a manually executed counterpart. The Lender shall not be responsible for or have any duty to ascertain or inquire into the sufficiency, validity, enforceability, effectiveness or genuineness of any Loan Document or any other Communication (including, for the avoidance of doubt, in connection with the Lender’s reliance on any Electronic Signature transmitted by telecopy, emailed .pdf or any other electronic means). The Lender shall be entitled to rely on, and shall incur no liability under or in respect of this Agreement or any other Loan Document by acting upon, any Communication (which writing may be a fax, any electronic message, Internet or intranet website posting or other distribution or signed using an Electronic Signature) or any statement made to it orally or by telephone and believed by it to be genuine and signed or sent or otherwise authenticated (whether or not such Person in fact meets the requirements set forth in the Loan Documents for being the maker thereof). Each of Loan Party hereby waives (a) any argument, defense or right to contest the legal effect, validity or enforceability of this Agreement, any other Loan Document, and/or any other Communication based solely on the lack of paper original copies of this Agreement, such other Loan Document, and/or such other Communication, and (b) waives any claim against the Lender and each Related Party for any liabilities arising solely from the Lender’s reliance on or use of Electronic Signatures, including any liabilities arising as a result of the failure of the Loan Parties to use any available security measures in connection with the execution, delivery or transmission of any Electronic Signature.