Prof. Law & Ethics
77393/06 Spring 2003
Class 13: March 5, 2003

Reading and questions for class 14, March 10:
Aymes v. Bonelli
What does pro se mean?
What does de novo mean?
According to the 2^nd Circuit Court of Appeals, what error did the District Court make when it applied the Reid test to the relationship between Aymes and Bonelli?
How would the 2^nd Circuit Court of Appeals decided Evans v. Chicago Systems Software in 1992?

Contract Law
Read text pages 383 - 390.
Petterson v. Pattberg
Lucy v. Zehmer.

In Petterson v. Pattberg, the defendant offered to reduce Petterson's debt provided Petterson paid on or before May 31, 1924. It appears that the defendant's offer to Petterson was sincere, but the New York of Appeals held that the defendant was not required to complete the transaction although Petterson was ready to pay before May 31. In Lucy v. Zehmer, Zehmer claimed that he was drunk and that he thought Lucy was only joking when he [Lucy] offered to buy the farm from him for $50,000. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court of Virginia held that Zehmer would have to sell his farm to Lucy. Are these cases consistent?