Saturday, November 18: Jamie Gold 102
P.S. One final thing that I could mention about the Gold/Leyser situation: the previous post was long enough without me mentioning it, but one other way that a unilateral promise, even lacking consideration, can be converted into a binding contract is via a principle called "reliance." If one party reasonably relies on a promise (to his detriment), it becomes a binding contract to the extent that he was disadvantaged by his reliance. For example, if I promise a friend that I'm going to give him my BMW once I move overseas, and he relies on that promise and, figuring he'll no longer need the old Toyota he's been driving around, he gives it to the Salvation Army, then the promise I made to him (re: giving him my BMW) becomes a binding contract, because he reasonably relied on it to his detriment (he would, however, probably only be able to recover in the amount of the amount he "lost" -- in other words, the value of the Toyota.) This legal principle exists in order to allow people to rely on reasonably-given promises even before they're consummated, without being worried that they could get screwed if the other party backs out.
What this means for the Gold/CL case is that if CL had been shrewd (or had some shrewd lawyers at his disposal), he might have done an act in reliance on Gold's promise, thereby converting it into a contract. What could he have done? Hmmm...well, immediately after Gold's $12 Million win, he might have gone out and bought himself some expensive real estate (presuming he could have found someone satisfied with his level of credit), which might have established the reliance necessary to convert Gold's promise into a contract. That's a bit of a simplified example, but that's where good lawyers really make their bones: it's coming up with innovative solutions to sticky situations like this that sets the elite ones apart from the schmoes. There were plenty of ways that good lawyers could have approached the situation that would have put CL in position to ensure that he collected his half of Gold's winnings. Filing a preemptive injunction, however, was NOT one of them (unless, as some people have correctly pointed out, there is more to know about this situation, and CL did, in fact, have reliable evidence that Gold was looking to back out -- we'll know much more after the discovery phase of the lawsuit; prob early in 2007.)
Speaking of good lawyers, another perplexing decision by CL was to select poker pro Mark Seif to represent him (at least in the initial negotiations he was having with Gold.) WHAT??!? What the hell prompted that decision?? Seif is an elite tournament player, and by all accounts a real smart guy, but on what basis did CL make that decision?? Seif may have passed the bar exam, but he hasn't practiced in God-only-knows how long! That's a situation where you call up an elite Manhattan or even Las Vegas firm and get one of their prominent contract attorneys to represent you (you'll have a ton of preeminent contract lawyers lining up for the chance to work, even on a contingency fee basis, on a $6 Million lawsuit.) Mark Seif is an outstanding poker player, but this is a contracts issue, not a poker one. That's like a 1st round NBA draft pick hiring Lebron James as his agent. I get it: the guy knows basketball; but negotiating a contract has nothing to do with hoops. When Terrell Owens had his contract dispute with the Eagles, the arbitrator was actually a professor at my law school, and the campus was swarming with ESPN camera crews, one of which asked the guy a question about the NFL, to which he responded "actually, I don't really know much about football." ESPN had some fun at his expense, but that's exactly what the arbitration process needed: a completely dispassionate individual who could take a clean view of the contract issues without letting football get in the way.
In fact, the preceding begs an interesting question about the ownership of sports franchises. Several owners and/or general managers love to tout their status as "fan first, owner/GM second." Sounds noble, and makes for good morning sports talkshow soundbites, but there's something to be said for the fiscally-responsible owner/GM who views his acquisition as an investment, and just goes out and makes sound business decisions. There's certainly a few notable and successful examples of the fan-first approach: like Mark Cuban (Dallas) or the Maloof Brothers (Sacrament0) in the NBA. But also plenty of examples of the business-first approach paying dividends like Billy Beane (Oakland, MLB) (although the majority of these types probably don't get as much publicity, because they pull the strings mostly from behind the scenes). Anyway, this really wasn't the direction this post was originally meant to take, and it's long enough for now, so for now I'll just post a pic of me bungee jumping for the first time ever, and leave the topics I meant to address for next time. Taken in Queenstown, New Zealand, birthplace of bungee jumping. Despite the predilection for risk that you need in poker, I'm actually a big pussy, and was doing my best to talk myself out of actually doing this. Luckily, my 2 travel companions would not have let me get out of the country alive had I weasled out of it, and I ended up with this awesome picture:
What this means for the Gold/CL case is that if CL had been shrewd (or had some shrewd lawyers at his disposal), he might have done an act in reliance on Gold's promise, thereby converting it into a contract. What could he have done? Hmmm...well, immediately after Gold's $12 Million win, he might have gone out and bought himself some expensive real estate (presuming he could have found someone satisfied with his level of credit), which might have established the reliance necessary to convert Gold's promise into a contract. That's a bit of a simplified example, but that's where good lawyers really make their bones: it's coming up with innovative solutions to sticky situations like this that sets the elite ones apart from the schmoes. There were plenty of ways that good lawyers could have approached the situation that would have put CL in position to ensure that he collected his half of Gold's winnings. Filing a preemptive injunction, however, was NOT one of them (unless, as some people have correctly pointed out, there is more to know about this situation, and CL did, in fact, have reliable evidence that Gold was looking to back out -- we'll know much more after the discovery phase of the lawsuit; prob early in 2007.)
Speaking of good lawyers, another perplexing decision by CL was to select poker pro Mark Seif to represent him (at least in the initial negotiations he was having with Gold.) WHAT??!? What the hell prompted that decision?? Seif is an elite tournament player, and by all accounts a real smart guy, but on what basis did CL make that decision?? Seif may have passed the bar exam, but he hasn't practiced in God-only-knows how long! That's a situation where you call up an elite Manhattan or even Las Vegas firm and get one of their prominent contract attorneys to represent you (you'll have a ton of preeminent contract lawyers lining up for the chance to work, even on a contingency fee basis, on a $6 Million lawsuit.) Mark Seif is an outstanding poker player, but this is a contracts issue, not a poker one. That's like a 1st round NBA draft pick hiring Lebron James as his agent. I get it: the guy knows basketball; but negotiating a contract has nothing to do with hoops. When Terrell Owens had his contract dispute with the Eagles, the arbitrator was actually a professor at my law school, and the campus was swarming with ESPN camera crews, one of which asked the guy a question about the NFL, to which he responded "actually, I don't really know much about football." ESPN had some fun at his expense, but that's exactly what the arbitration process needed: a completely dispassionate individual who could take a clean view of the contract issues without letting football get in the way.
In fact, the preceding begs an interesting question about the ownership of sports franchises. Several owners and/or general managers love to tout their status as "fan first, owner/GM second." Sounds noble, and makes for good morning sports talkshow soundbites, but there's something to be said for the fiscally-responsible owner/GM who views his acquisition as an investment, and just goes out and makes sound business decisions. There's certainly a few notable and successful examples of the fan-first approach: like Mark Cuban (Dallas) or the Maloof Brothers (Sacrament0) in the NBA. But also plenty of examples of the business-first approach paying dividends like Billy Beane (Oakland, MLB) (although the majority of these types probably don't get as much publicity, because they pull the strings mostly from behind the scenes). Anyway, this really wasn't the direction this post was originally meant to take, and it's long enough for now, so for now I'll just post a pic of me bungee jumping for the first time ever, and leave the topics I meant to address for next time. Taken in Queenstown, New Zealand, birthplace of bungee jumping. Despite the predilection for risk that you need in poker, I'm actually a big pussy, and was doing my best to talk myself out of actually doing this. Luckily, my 2 travel companions would not have let me get out of the country alive had I weasled out of it, and I ended up with this awesome picture:
posted by Blog Administrator at 4:51 AM
4 Comments:
Leyser knows Seif through working with him on the WPT Boot Camps. Seif is also TJ Cloutier's lawyer, and Leyser and Cloutier are friends for the same reason.
Relying on your friends in a $6M case is incredibly foolish, but it's not like he just picked Seif out of thin air.
Ah - thx for clearing that up. So I guess Seif isn't completely green...nonetheless, w/ $6M on the line, I'm going with someone who practices contract law full-time, rather than a poker pro who owns a copy of Black's Law Dictionary.
Just to say I read this whole blog from the beginning at work last week and have really enjoyed it, some great writing.
Ps I am a Chartered Accountant and you feel law is a pointless life choice?
Have you ever heard how many of your brain cells die each time you bungee jump? I forget the exact number but it was something crazy high. I don't remember if it said whether there was proof that they were "important" brain cells though.
Post a Comment
<< Home