Category: Law

The Extraordinary Importance of Contract Law:
Contract law lies at the heart of our system of laws and serves as the foundation of our entire society. This is not an exaggeration. It is a simple observation – one that too often goes unobserved.

Our society depends upon free exchange in the marketplace at every level. Contract law makes this possible. Exchanges in the marketplace always depend upon voluntary agreements between individuals or other “legal persons”. Such voluntary agreements could never work without contract law.

Contract law serves to make these agreements “enforceable”, which usually means that it allows one party to a contract to obtain money damages from the other party upon showing that the latter stands in breach.

Without contract law, these voluntary agreements would instantly become impractical and unworkable. Since such agreements lie at the very heart of our society and economy, and since they depend upon contract law, it is no exaggeration to say, as I have just done, that “contract law lies at the heart of our system of laws and serves as the foundation of our entire society.” Those were the very words that I used to begin this essay.

Stated more precisely, it is our system of contract law that underpins and makes possible the many private, voluntary agreements by which exchanges of goods and services are accomplished in our society at every level. No exchange is exempt from the contract law, which indeed can be rightly called the cornerstone of marketplace civilization.

In this article, I will briefly explain the different types of contracts that can be made, paying special attention to the common problems that arise in their formulation. I will also discuss how contracts are enforced or avoided, and how a wronged party to a contract can obtain recompense and other relief from the wrongdoing party. I will explain the principle of good faith, which in California is known as the “covenant of good faith and fair dealing”, and which has been too often overlooked by commentators and practitioners alike.

I do not aim to provide a comprehensive explanation of all the theoretical and practical difficulties. This is an overview, not an exhaustive treatise. Sometimes the overview will better help the reader understand the essential points, or the “forest” if you will, while the treatise is better for explaining the many intricacies and complexities that can be rightly called the “trees” of contract law.

Definition of a Contract:
A contract is nothing other than a voluntary, private agreement to exchange valuable things. It most often is an exchange of valuable promises. For example, a home-buyer might promise to pay $250,000 to the seller, who in exchange promises to deliver unencumbered title to the buyer.

Good Faith and Fair Dealing:
Most exchanges are straightforward matters that are self-executing and done without any problem at all. When I buy a cup of coffee at my local cafe (which I have just done so that I may enjoy it while I compose the present essay on my laptop), the cafe and I have made a self-executing exchange, which we have done without a hitch.

Ditto, if I buy a book at the local bookstore or have my car washed at the local car-wash. Ditto again, if I purchase airplane tickets from a travel agent, or have my house painted, or have my teeth cleaned at the dentist’s office.

Fortunately, most exchanges are performed on the spot to everyone’s satisfaction. Were this otherwise, our society and general commerce would soon become choked by controversy and disputes. Thus it may be said that our system depends above all on the good faith and honesty of our people. Indeed, the principle of “good faith” is central to contract law.

Every contract made or performed in California is said to include an implied-in-law covenant of good faith and fair dealing, by which each party to the contract agrees to act in good faith and deal fairly with the other. This has been construed to mean that one party to a contract should not try in bad faith to cheat the other party of the benefit of the bargain made by the contract.

Inevitable Complications and Controversies:
While most exchanges are performed without incident, not all of them are, as we all know. This is true even in the simplest of matters (e.g., the sale of a cup of coffee) and is even more likely in a complicated transaction (e.g., the financing, delivery, and insurance of commercial aircraft for an overseas company over a thirty-year term).

Let us take a simple example first. I will list only a few of the problems that might arise from a simple contract for a one-time sale of a single box of tomatoes. If you offer to give me $10 for a carton of tomatoes that I have sitting on a table behind me, and if I agree to accept it as payment in full for the tomatoes, we have made an oral contract that we can perform on the spot: You hand me the $10 bill, and I give you the carton. Nothing more simple or straightforward, right? But what if you discover that my tomatoes were too ripe when you bought them, and that they all go rotten within two hours of the purchase? What if I take your $10 bill, but then refuse to give the box of tomatoes, telling you to “beat it, scram, or else you’ll get hurt!” What happens if your $10 bill turns out to be counterfeit, or if you take the tomatoes but refuse to pay, or pay with a check that you later cancel or that is returned unpaid by the bank? What if the carton breaks while you are carrying it, and all the tomatoes fall to the ground and are ruined? What if you needed these tomatoes for the dinner you meant to make for your boss, who, in disappointment, decides not to give you the promotion he had earlier discussed with you? My point is only that problems can and often do arise in even the simplest, easiest exchanges.

In more complicated transactions, the possible difficulties are varied and sometimes difficult for the parties even to envision at the outset, much less address in an intelligent, orderly manner. Let’s consider one such example. Suppose a large American company makes a contract with a large foreign company by which it becomes obliged to design, deliver, and insure an entire generation of commercial aircraft over a thirty-year period. The possible complications might take me literally years to ponder, list, analyze, and explain. It could take a decade or longer for feuding teams of lawyers in several countries to sort out the possible complications that might arise.

To avoid such controversy, which results in burdensome attorney’s fees and an equally burdensome devotion of attention and effort that could be better employed in more constructive endeavors, it is necessary to have a proper contract in place at the outset: If the exchange is to be done on the spot and simultaneously, a written contract need not be used, but the parties should either reasonably trust one another’s good faith or have an exact understanding of the exchange before they undertake it. If the exchange cannot be performed in full on the spot, there should be a written contract to state the parties’ obligations and the essential terms of the exchange. A good written contract will also address at least the most likely complications that might arise, assigning responsibility for any such complication to a specific party in a specified manner.

A good written contract is one that clearly describes the exchange to be done and also addresses the possible complications that might arise during the performance of the exchange.

Different Kinds of Contracts:
I earlier provided a simple definition of a contract. Here is a more technical definition: A contract is a private compact, voluntarily made, by which the parties agree to exchange valuable things with one another. A contract comes into existence when (1) one party makes an offer that the other party accepts, and (2) the parties thereby agree to exchange valuable benefits on specified terms and conditions, with reasonably specific agreement on the price, place, time, the goods or services to be delivered, and the other essential terms of the exchange.

If you have been trying to apply the law of attraction to change something in your life, but not getting the results that you want, your subconscious programming has probably been getting in the way.

Your mind is made up of two parts – your conscious mind which is basically everything that you are aware of (what we think of as the reasoning, thinking mind), and your subconscious which is all the mental activity that is below or out of conscious awareness (which includes memories, beliefs, values, emotions, intuition and all the automatic processes in the body that we are not consciously aware of like breathing, digestion, elimination, contracting and relaxing muscles and so on).

When you are born, your subconscious is like an empty sponge ready to fill up with feedback from your environment and the people around you. From birth until around age eight, a childs subconscious takes on the beliefs and values of the important people in their life parents, older siblings, aunts, uncles, teachers, religious leaders and even television characters that they watch a lot all without any filtering or examination for truth or relevance.

At the same time, the child also continuously makes decisions about the world and their place in it based on what is happening around them which then also become beliefs stored in the subconscious. So, for example, if you were born into a loving household where all your needs were instantly met, your subconscious would likely have formed beliefs that I am loveable, the world is safe and supportive, and I am always provided for.

On the other hand, if you were born into a household where your parents were sometimes stressed and arguing, and your needs were sometimes met and sometimes not met, your subconscious would likely have formed beliefs like I am only loved when (conditional love), the world is scary and not supportive, and I am not provided for or I am only provided for when (eg I am good enough, loveable enough, quiet enough, smart enough etc).

All these early decisions and unquestioning acceptance of others beliefs and values then form the subconscious programming that becomes the filters through which the child, and later adult, see and experience the world. So, if you have a subconscious belief that money is hard to come by, that will be your experience of the world. You will not notice opportunities to bring money in more easily, will not be attracted to, or will be suspicious of jobs that are not hard. You would probably not even notice, and therefore walk straight past, a $100 bill lying on the sidewalk all because your subconscious programming has trained you not to see what doesnt fit into your view of the world.

This happens because of the way that the mind is structured. Whenever you are not using your conscious mind to direct your thoughts, learn something new or handle complex tasks; your subconscious mind automatically takes over, like a faithful servant. As soon as the conscious mind masters a task, for example, driving a car, it hands it over to the subconscious mind who will replay the pattern whenever required, in this case, when traffic and road conditions are safe, we will slip into autopilot and maybe even arrive at our destination without being consciously aware of how we got there, or slip back into conscious awareness at some point in the journey and not be entirely sure where we are until we pass the next familiar landmark. We seamlessly slip between the conscious and subconscious minds hundreds of times a day.

This slipping between conscious and subconscious is also why it can be so difficult to follow through with decisions such starting an exercise program or giving up smoking because as soon as your conscious mind stops focusing on the new goal, your subconscious mind will direct your behaviours back to the old established habits.

While the subconscious is excellent at handling all those tasks we no longer need full conscious awareness for, it is also an excellent multi-tasker, replaying all your old programming on an almost constant loop, in the background, including any disempowering beliefs that are no longer relevant or helpful. Scientists estimate that between 94% to 98% of all thoughts, on average, arise from the subconscious mind and, because of the looping effect, upwards of 90% of the thoughts that you think today will be the same as the thoughts that you had yesterday, and the day before, and the day before, which most likely means that the life that you are creating tomorrow will be exactly the same as today.

This is why people become disappointed when they first start using the law of attraction and dont see immediate results. the law of attraction responds to our vibrations 24/7 and our conscious mind, even with the best intent and a superhuman level of focus would maybe influence only up to 10% of your thoughts and, therefore, vibrations. So, if your subconscious programming supports your law of attraction efforts – you will see results – fast! However, if your subconscious programming is disempowering and not in alignment with your desires, your vibrations in relation to that desire will be working against you and your results will be patchy at best and maybe even non-existent in the short term.

So, if youre not getting the results you want with the law of attraction, dont blame yourself its the way youve been designed. But, before you get ready to give up and say its no good, Ill forever be a slave to my subconscious programming, there are ways to change your subconscious beliefs and there are many ways to do it.

I dont believe that there is any one method that suits everyone were all individuals and what suits one may not suit another. Based on my experiences, however, here are the best ways to change your subconscious programming:

-EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) and its more complicated cousin TFT (Thought Field Therapy)
-NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming)
-hypnosis
-Kinesiology and other energy therapies
-meditation stops the mental chatter and allows you to access the subconscious mind
-Visualisation repetition of a powerful image will gradually change subconscious beliefs
-Affirmations expressed in such a way that they do not oppose the existing belief so rather than I am slim which the mind knows is not true, try I am in the process of becoming slim which is far easier for the mind to accept
-Challenging beliefs as they arise through psychological techniques like rational emotive therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy

Experiment with what works best for you and, no matter which technique you choose, persistence will be the key to success.

Change in Circumstances

The uncontroverted evidence was such that the child support order should have been reduced or modified to reflect respondent’s financial resources which at best could have been described as limited. In order to justify a decrease in child support payments, the moving party is required to show a significant material change in the circumstances and conditions of the divorced parents since the entry of the original divorce decree. In order to justify a decrease in child support payments, the moving party is required to show a significant material change in the circumstances and conditions of the divorced parents since the entry of the original divorce decree. The issue before the trial court on a motion to modify child support payments was whether the circumstances of the parties and the children had materially changed since the divorce decree, and only if that were so would a modification of the child support be proper. In all cases where petitions to modify payments under a divorce decree are involved, the primary question is whether or not changes in circumstances of the parties justify the modification. In an application for modification or termination of support, the only inquiry should be whether sufficient cause has intervened since the entry of the decree to authorize the court to change the allowance.

Child Support

Child support provisions in a dissolution agreement adopted by the trial court are void, in excess of the court’s jurisdiction, if the trial court could not order those provisions in the absence of the agreement.

Life Insurance

In a divorce case, where there was no reason to believe that the husband, or his estate, would not be able to provide the mandated child support, the trial court’s decision not to require the husband to maintain a life insurance policy naming his children as the irrevocable beneficiaries was not against the manifest weight of the evidence.

Consent Decrees

The statutory power of a court to reduce the amount of periodic payments, whether by way of alimony or child support, is not defeated by the fixing of the amount of the payments in a settlement agreement which was incorporated in the decree.

Continuing Jurisdiction

Regardless of the presence ort absence of any language limiting modification of contract terms, provisions relating to the support of minor children are always modifiable. A court is concerned with the adequacy of a child support award when made; the wife can always petition for an increase in the future.

Contract

While defendant was under no legal obligation to leave his estate or any part of it to the children and his obligation to do so was created by contract and only by the contract, the contract could not be altered without his consent and the court was without authority to modify it or to enter a decree contrary to it.

A jury in Tallahassee, Florida just unanimously awarded plaintiff Shamair Coward a complete refund from GM for her 2007 Saturn Ion. When the vehicle was traveling at speeds of approximately 30 miles per hour, the engine would drag, lose power, the RPM’s would go up and the front of the car made a rattling sound. Ms. Coward was forced to put the vehicle into fourth gear to prevent the vehicle from losing power and to lower the RPM’s.

Ms. Coward satisfied the needs of the lemon law by returning the vehicle to the dealership on 3 different occasions for repair, as well as presenting her case in Floridas mandatory arbitration program for resolution. It was good she did not stop with the arbitration, however; in that venue, she lost the case.

Some states require that arbitration be pursued prior to litigation, said leading California lemon law attorney Norman Taylor. If state law does not require arbitration, I always recommend it be avoided.

Taylors reasons for this advice are quite sound. Manufacturers love any kind of arbitration, he continued. Informal dispute resolution takes time, and any delay favors the manufacturer, who is not the one driving the defective vehicle. Consumers are frequently unfamiliar with the law and with the arbitration process, which can lead to awards in favor of the manufacturer even where the facts are relatively clear. It probably does not help that the manufacturers themselves fund almost all of these so called independent dispute resolution processes.

In his many years as a consumer activist and lemon law attorney, Taylor has had much occasion to observe the arbitration process. He has been a lemon law specialist since 1987, and he and his firm, Norman Taylor and Associates, have handled over 6,000 cases for consumers with a 98 percent success rate.

Arbitration is rarely helpful, even if the consumer wins. An example of this may be that the arbitrator may issue an eloquently worded opinion finding that a defect exists, but that in all fairness it looks as if it could be repaired. Instead of awarding the refund or replacement required by law, the consumer is awarded just another repair attempt.

For the consumers sake, a qualified lemon law attorney should be contacted right away when a lemon is suspected. Careful and expert legal guidance can help them avoid many of the delaying tactics and pitfalls thrown before them in pursuing their rights under the lemon law.

About Norman Taylor & Associates

Norman Taylor and Associates have been assisting consumers since 1987. At Norman Taylor & Associates, the goal is to provide clients with the highest quality of legal representation if theyre one of the unfortunate residents of California whove had the misfortune of purchasing defective vehicles or goods and who have recourse under the Lemon Law. They represent consumers in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. With a twenty two year history of successful cases, Norman Taylor & Associates has established their reputation as a firm of consumer advocates that get the job done.

Using the Law of Attraction as your own personal money magnet is easy when you know one of the best kept “secrets” of the Law of Attraction, which is “energetic magnetism.” In fact, the terms “Law of Attraction” and “energetic magnetism” could be used interchangeably since they are essentially the same. This article explains the top two tricks that most people miss when it comes to making the Law of Attraction work for money.

If you want to be magnetic to money, you want to create the ability to “draw” or “pull” money to yourself. To do this, you want to create within yourself something called, “magnetism” and to do that, you have to think in terms of “energy” rather than just thinking in terms of cerebral pursuits such as positive thinking.

According to Google’s Dictionary, magnetism is defined as, “A physical phenomenon produced by the motion of electric charge, resulting in attractive and repulsive forces between objects.” While that sounds, “a little too scientific” for most of us, what it’s basically saying is what you need to do is charge two objects with enough energy to attract to each other. In our case, since we want to manifest money with the magnetism of the Law of Attraction, the two objects which we want to “energetically charge” would be you and money.

So, let’s say that money already has a certain electrical charge or energy which can also be called a “frequency.” Like a radio dial has numbers to indicate the different energetic frequencies of the radio channels, so does money already have a “channel” (or energetic frequency) on the dial of this planet. So, now let’s say all you have to do is get the physical “energetic frequency” of your body (your radio dial) “tuned” to match money or whatever you desire. Although it sounds difficult, it’s really rather easy when you know a couple of tricks.

All you have to do when you want to learn how to attract money with the Law of Attraction using its magnetism is to think “energetically” rather than “intellectually.” When you think “energetically,” you’ve learned the true secret for using the Law of Attraction to manifest money. This is how to attract money, plain and simple, but most people don’t know about this one significant factor when learning how to manifest money.

You see, most people approach the law of attraction thinking that it’s all “in their minds.” But, it’s not just “all in their minds.” A larger part of learning how to manifest money is changing the physical “energetic” signal (frequency) that you are putting out to the Universe through your body, and you can’t easily do this by just doing affirmations. You have to do it by doing things that actually change your body’s energy, or frequency, to match the “electrical charge” or frequency of the money. When you do this, the indisputable science of magnetism takes over and you draw things to you very quickly.

One way to work “energetically” rather than “intellectually” with the Law of Attraction for money is by doing things that teach your body the physical vibration of what you want. For example, if you want more clients, then you physically pretend (and go through the physical motions) of acting as if you have clients. Yes, this means pretending to talk to them on the phone, making initial appointments, etc. This teaches your body the “vibration” (or frequency) of having clients and, thus makes your body “charged” with the identical “electrical charge” or frequency of having clients and, bingo, you become magnetic to having clients.