ContractsProf Blog

Top Ten SSRN Contracts & Commercial Law Downloads (November 15, 2019)

Top Downloads For:

Law & Society: Private Law - Contracts eJournal

Recent Top Papers (60 days)

As of: 16 Sep 2019 - 15 Nov 2019

Rank	Paper	Downloads
1.	Digital Solidarity: Contracting in the Age of Smart Contracts Farshad Ghodoosi Graves School of Business, Morgan State University Date Posted: 16 Sep 2019 Last Revised: 26 Sep 2019	137
2.	Amicus Brief of 29 IP, Internet Law, & Antitrust Professors in 1-800 Contacts v. F.T.C. Mark A. Lemley and Eric Goldman Stanford Law School and Santa Clara University - School of Law Date Posted: 21 Sep 2019 Last Revised: 02 Oct 2019	132
3.	The Corporation as a Category in Private Law Paul B. Miller and Andrew S. Gold Notre Dame Law School and Brooklyn Law School Date Posted: 24 Sep 2019 Last Revised: 29 Oct 2019	122
4.	Civil and Common Law Lionel Smith McGill University, Faculty of Law, Paul-André Crépeau Centre for Private and Comparative Law Date Posted: 04 Oct 2019 Last Revised: 04 Oct 2019	106
5.	The Case Against Equity in American Contract Law Jody S. Kraus and Robert E. Scott Columbia University - Law School and Columbia University - Law School Date Posted: 03 Oct 2019 Last Revised: 06 Oct 2019	101
6.	Paid on Both Sides: Quid Pro Quo Exchange and the Doctrine of Consideration Jed Lewinsohn University of Pittsburgh - Department of Philosophy Date Posted: 22 Oct 2019 Last Revised: 14 Nov 2019	101
7.	Crisis Construction in Contract Boilerplate Emily Strauss Duke University School of Law Date Posted: 14 Sep 2019 Last Revised: 16 Sep 2019	87
8.	Smart Contracts: Reducing Risks in Economic Exchange with No-Party Trust? Helen Eenmaa-Dimitrieva and Maria José Schmidt-Kessen University of Tartu School of Law and Copenhagen Business School - CBS Law Date Posted: 01 Oct 2019 Last Revised: 01 Oct 2019	65
9.	Contracting for Personal Data Kevin E. Davis and Florencia Marotta-Wurgler New York University School of Law and New York University School of Law Date Posted: 09 Oct 2019 Last Revised: 09 Oct 2019	64
10.	The U.S.-China Trade Negotiation: A Contract Theory Perspective Angela Huyue Zhang The University of Hong Kong - Faculty of Law Date Posted: 17 Oct 2019 Last Revised: 31 Oct 2019	54

Top Downloads For:

Contracts & Commercial Law eJournal

Recent Top Papers (60 days)

As of: 16 Sep 2019 - 15 Nov 2019

Rank	Paper	Downloads
1.	ALI Data Privacy: Overview and Black Letter Text Daniel J. Solove and Paul M. Schwartz George Washington University Law School and University of California, Berkeley - School of Law Date Posted: 02 Oct 2019 Last Revised: 10 Nov 2019	460
2.	Driven to Bankruptcy Pamela Foohey, Robert M. Lawless and Deborah Thorne Indiana University Maurer School of Law, University of Illinois College of Law and University of Idaho Date Posted: 19 Sep 2019 Last Revised: 07 Oct 2019	154
3.	Digital Solidarity: Contracting in the Age of Smart Contracts Farshad Ghodoosi Graves School of Business, Morgan State University Date Posted: 16 Sep 2019 Last Revised: 26 Sep 2019	137
4.	Civil and Common Law Lionel Smith McGill University, Faculty of Law, Paul-André Crépeau Centre for Private and Comparative Law Date Posted: 04 Oct 2019 Last Revised: 04 Oct 2019	106
5.	The Case Against Equity in American Contract Law Jody S. Kraus and Robert E. Scott Columbia University - Law School and Columbia University - Law School Date Posted: 03 Oct 2019 Last Revised: 06 Oct 2019	101
6.	Paid on Both Sides: Quid Pro Quo Exchange and the Doctrine of Consideration Jed Lewinsohn University of Pittsburgh - Department of Philosophy Date Posted: 22 Oct 2019 Last Revised: 14 Nov 2019	101
7.	Inefficiencies in Digital Advertising Markets Brett R. Gordon, Kinshuk Jerath, Zsolt Katona, Sridhar Narayanan, Jiwoong Shin and Kenneth C. Wilbur Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management, Columbia University - Columbia Business School, University of California, Berkeley - Haas School of Business, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Yale School of Management and University of California, San Diego (UCSD) - Rady School of Management Date Posted: 30 Sep 2019 Last Revised: 12 Nov 2019	88
8.	Crisis Construction in Contract Boilerplate Emily Strauss Duke University School of Law Date Posted: 14 Sep 2019 Last Revised: 16 Sep 2019	87
9.	Private Law and Local Custom Nathan B. Oman William & Mary Law School Date Posted: 22 Oct 2019 Last Revised: 22 Oct 2019	81
10.	Smart Contracts: Reducing Risks in Economic Exchange with No-Party Trust? Helen Eenmaa-Dimitrieva and Maria José Schmidt-Kessen University of Tartu School of Law and Copenhagen Business School - CBS Law Date Posted: 01 Oct 2019 Last Revised: 01 Oct 2019	65

Madonna Sued for Late Concert Start

"There's something that you all need to understand," Madonna said during her Las Vegas concert, "and that is, that a queen is never late."

Maybe so, but concertgoer Nate Hollander is suing her and concert promoter Live Nation for breach of contract. Hollander claims that first announcing the concert start time to be 7.30 p.m. and then changing it to 10.30 is a breach of contract.  No refund has been offered, he alleges, and attempts to resell the tickets will not make up for the money lost as tickets have now "suffered an extreme loss of value" because of the time change, Hollander further alleges.  Each ticket cost approx. $340.

Does Hollander have a point?  For those who are not night owls, it is certainly an inconvenience to have to be out and about until mightnight if they had hoped to hit the sack earlier.  Sure, a big name like Madonna will, hopefully, cause a perhaps much-needed adrenaline rush, but what about having to pay babysitters for very late hours worked, increased difficulty getting home on public transportation or shared rides that late, etc.

Notwithstanding the fact that concert tickets to see big names often increase dramatically in value on the secondary market if the show is sold out (if it is even contractually possible to resell the tickets), it does not seem, however, like any true loss had been suffered here.  Madonna still performed and thus provided the benefit of the bargain even if not perfectly so.  The tickets were still honored.  It was still a night out in Las Vegas.  There really was no reason to have to resell tickets, so any value allegedly lost in the deal is speculative.

For law teaching purposes, this case may, though, still be interesting when discussing material v. minor breach with our students.

A Match Made in Hell?

Can you get your money back from a contract for dating services if the matchmaking service either does not produce enough dates or enough quality dates?

That was discussed recently in connection with a business model by a Colorado matchmaking company that might not be that unusual in the industry (I wouldn’t know and it’s irrelevant anyway as the issue is, at the end of the day, one between the client and the service provider):

The company explains to clients that the company will only match clients when the company feels that it has a good match for someone.  That might take some time.  However, clients are often impatient…. says the company.

Clients say that, in one case, instead of the promised active, rough, Kris Kristofferson type, a retired and injured police officer notified the female who contacted him that he could not meet for at least another couple of months because he could neither drive nor sit up.  In another case, a man showed up wearing a pair of super tight sweatpants with a black, badly stained shirt tucked in.  The man’s personal hygiene also seemed to be subpar…

The company responds that they are not responsible for the clothes people wear on dates and that the police offer was injured after signing up for the service.  The company was sued a few times in small claims court and lost.  It defends itself as follows:

"Small claims court judges don't have to rule by the letter of the law," he said. "They don't have to rule by the contract. I've been to small claims court a handful of times. Small claims court judges rule based on the emotion in the courtroom. When a damsel in distress or a guy who is emotional goes in front of a judge versus a matchmaker, sometimes small claims court judges buy into the emotions of the story. We tell our clients that matchmaking takes time."

What remains important in this and all consumer transactions is to be sure that you don’t sign any contracts unless you have read and understood all terms.  Courts may hold you to have done so even if you did not.  Make sure that all important contractual aspects are in writing and that you retain a copy.  If you do not understand any terms, make sure you ask for clarification before you sign.  Make sure you understand all charges.  You should probably also not sign up for anything as uncertain as a dating service if you cannot afford the fee if you do not meet the man or woman of your dreams.  It becomes really difficult from a legal point of view that a company has not fulfilled its promise if it did, for example, give you a chance to go on several dates.  Having to argue that the person you met was not who you had hoped for may be impossibly difficult in most cases.