Posts from January 2012

I'm reading the info on distinctions between Pennsylvania contract law and common law or Uniform Commercial Code Art. 2 and it includes promissory estoppel, which @kookcity2000 thinks is interesting.

Promissory estoppel allows a promisee to enforce a promise against a promisor even when there's no consideration. Consideration is a legal detriment that binds one to a contract. It's usually money for service or product but it could be product for service or something else.

Example: @lilho promises @paul that she will give him a year's worth of tortoise food if he stops going out dancing for a month. @paul thinks this is a good bargain and stops growing dandelions and strawberries for Basra and T2. At the end of the month, @paul hasn't been dancing but @lilho laughs and says she wasn't serious. Now Basra and T2 are hungry. Can @paul sue @lilho for tortoise food?

Yes! Why?
- Was a contract formed? @lilho made an offer, @paul accepted, so yes.
- Was there consideration? @lilho isn't getting anything for her promise, so no (@paul not dancing for a month doesn't affect @lilho's life although that's what she asked for).
- So why can @paul sue? Promissory estoppel: Because he relied on @lilho's promise by tearing out the dandelion and strawberry garden and an injustice will occur if @lilho's promise is not enforced - Basra & T2 would go hungry. Was it reasonably foreseeable (or even just reasonable) that @paul would rely on the promise? Yes, because @paul thinks growing tortoise food is a pain.

Sorry, @kookcity2000, I already passed through promissory estoppel and didn't write about it. Today's phrase is "anticipatory repudiation". In contracts law, either party can feel a little insecure about whether the transaction is going to happen and demand some reassurance. The other party (P2) has to respond with assurances within 30 days or the first party (P1) can assume that P2 has repudiated the contract.

When P2 has failed to respond or flat out states they don't intend to honor the contract, anticipatory repudiation has occurred. P1 can then seek remedies and doesn't have to follow through on their part of the contract. If P1 doesn't seek remedies, P2 can resume performance (or promise to) and P1 can request assurances that P2 will follow through. P1 is also required to mitigate the consequences of the breach (such as find a different supplier).

Illustration of plants' spiral forms and how they are all Fibonacci sequences by Vi Hart. See also the classic Snakes!

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3

I didn't check the weather this morning before I left the house wearing sneakers. I also didn't grab mittens or scarf and only have one jacket layer. We had an appt at elmwood and bryantthis afternoon. It was nice enough when we got there but 3" of snow when we left 3.5 hrs later, with whiteout conditions. Took about 15 min to drive from there to the office.

My truck heater core is clogged (limited heat) and I broke the drivers side window crank in that bad freeze. It's stuck open about 2". So brushing off my truck also requires brushing the snow off the seat and floor. «sigh» I need a new vehicle. (also needs new catalytic converter, some new e brake cables, february inspection...)

Again, paraphrasing the bar review materials. The NYS bar materials didn't cover DUI in this level of detail, but you can check out this PDF for current info

1. What is operating or in control of a vehicle?
The court looks at the totality of the circumstances but factors include
- is the person in the drivers seat?
- is the engine or the headlights on?
- are the keys in the ignition?
- how is the car situated?

2. Where? The vehicle can be on the side of the road, in a parking lot, or any other public roadway.

3. How much alcohol?
General impairment is a BAC of .08 to .1 (or acutally impaired and no BAC results available)
High rate of alcohol: .1 to .16 (irrespective of actual level of impairment)
Highest rate of alcohol: =>.16
(irrespective of actual level of impairment)

@puddlediving has a breathalyzer and we've been shocked by how little alcohol it takes to hit that .08 mark. .16 is easy to hit, too. DUI penalties are quite harsh (and include not being able to go to Canada for 10 years), so today's lesson is Don't Drink & Drive!

Note: In PA, you can turn around to avoid a DUI checkpoint. You can't drive around the checkpoint, but you can turn around. Very interesting.

I've been slacking on the bar prep, but when I do focus on it, it goes quickly. Here's today's major point from criminal procedure:

Just say no. If a cop asks to search you, your stuff, your house, just say no. You don't have to consent. You can ignore their bully tactics (a possible example is below). If they wanna search you, and can't see or smell any reasonable reason to search your car/house/hotel room, they gotta get a warrant. The important corrolary to this: hide your shit. Don't leave a gun on the front seat of your car because that fits into one of the exceptions to the general rule of warrants being required: it's in plain view (ditto with plain smell - scuba dry boxes, anyone?), giving rise to probable cause. There are other exceptions, but they all involve higher risk activities.

(This isn't legal advice and I'm not condoning or supporting any law-breaking activities, I'm just paraphrasing bar review materials.)

Don't forget the core message of my first year criminal law class: don't talk to cops.

For graphical illustration of such concepts, here's Ellen Forney's "How d'ya smoke pot and stay out of jail?"


I don't know if the cop freaking out video is authentic but the second video about 4th Amendment rights is correct.

One of my clients says these are awesome.

It didn't look too bad from the 28th floor of the hilton, but traffic out of toronto was creeping along. I was on the QEW for a while doing an okay speed when I hit a patch of ice, flew across the grassy median ditch and landed facing oncoming traffic on the other side. Fucking crazy. Someone else did a 180 right behind me and a little farther a couple tractor trailers were jackknifed and cars were just all over the place. I made it back okay, 2.75 hr trip.

From the office window

Walden galleria just became a much more attractive place.