In a commercial setting parties frequently develop a course of dealing with one another as sellers and buyers of goods in which goods are delivered upon the request of a buyer to a seller and there no one present when the goods are delivered to obtain a signature on the delivery invoice. In a recent unreported case Mundi Enterprise, Inc. v. Service Energy, LLC, No.1978, Sept Term 2004, decided January 7, 2016, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals held that where the parties had entered into an agreement by which a wholesaler sold gasoline to a service station for re-sale to the service station customers and the delivery invoices were sometimes not signed because the deliveries occurred at times when the gas station was closed, the evidence satisfied the burden of proof when the seller testified that the buyer had requested the delivery of the gasoline and the seller delivered the gasoline often at times when there was no one available to sign for the delivery. The seller’s representative testified that after a request for delivery was made gasoline was delivered and the start and ending gallonage was recorded on the delivery ticket. The Court of Special Appeals upheld the trial court’s decision to grant judgment in favor of the Seller despite the unsigned delivery invoices.

Clearly the preferable procedure is to obtain signatures when the goods are delivered or in the alternative obtain an e-mail or fax from the buyer requesting the delivery of the goods and a simultaneous confirmation of the delivery of the goods by the seller to the buyer.