Sunday, August 27, 2006

Does Pluto Have a Cause of Action?

The following was posted on the Wall Street Journal's Law Blog (WSJ.com "on law and business, and the business of law", a true favorite of the Ernster) :

"Does Pluto have a cause of action? We posed the question to Dan Hull of Hull McGuire, who writes the “What About Clients?” blog and has always, well, seemed a little out there. Here are his thoughts:

1. I think Pluto’s claim sounds in equity: quantum meruit. If Pluto no longer is part of the celestial contract, and apparently never really was, it at least has a beef for services rendered all these years.

2. Eminent domain: “Cosmic taking” damages under the Fifth Amendment is another theory since Pluto got bulldozed out of a long-standing scientific model.

3. Fraud, misrepresentation, or at least a detrimental reliance theory under the Restatement of Ks (2nd).

4. Even Justice Scalia might give standing to an aggrieved planet. We wait for Pluto’s phone call.

Click HERE for the entire post. The comments are a really good read!



Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

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