A free law lesson

There is ongoing talk around the Flathead Court House about adding another judge, partly because of the increasing amount of civil lawsuits. A big percentage of the non-criminal court battles involve “breach of contract.” To help cut down on this growing problem, I’ve dug out a past column written as an “absolutely free lesson in law.” I gladly repeat it here to help people who lack basic legal knowledge in avoiding future trouble.

This is not the same thing as practicing without a law license.

Because contracts are a complicated subject, we will just touch lightly upon the basics and then go briefly into its most insidious and profane applications. To establish your faith in my knowledge, I once studied contracts in law school and received a modest grade of A minus.

We all make contracts on a regular basis, or at least try. For example: I once told a close buddy, Holly Eastlund, if he would give me a break on my auto coverage, I’d give him golf lessons. Because he just laughed, there was no contract. Under law, there must be an “offer,” and “acceptance,” and “meeting of the minds.” The element of acceptance was missing here, and the “meeting of the minds” was not present.

Another necessary element of a binding contract is called “consideration,” which is “something of value” given in exchange for goods or services. In his rejection of my offer, I felt Holly failed to place proper value on tips, which might have helped his handicap. Sadly for me, there were others present who agreed with him.

A wild local example happened in the Flathead when a young man and his mother got arrested on charges of hiring a guy to shoot the F.B.I. agent who had put their father/husband and a brother in prison for peddling dope. The “family who plays together,” does not necessarily “stay together.” A heartless government put them in separate crowbar motels. Another contract gone awry.

One of the more than “merely foolish” contracts I recall occurred when the small U.S. Cavalry unit in Missoula in 1877 didn’t have any money, so they recruited mercenaries to help ambush Chief Joseph’s band at the Bighole. They did this by saying the rewards would be loot from the Indian village. The promise mentioned many good horses.

In this case, the innocent third party, Nez Perce Indians, being unaware of the consideration, sent survivors of the first and second parties fleeing for their lives and the meeting of the minds turned out to be a fool’s folly.

One of the most interesting contracts getting national publicity may have been negotiated by a beautiful Puerto Rican lady who starred in Caribbean soap operas. Lydia Echevarria was arrested for putting out a contract on her celebrity TV host husband, Luis Vigoreaux. Police wondered why Luis’ body bore so many non-fatal wounds. Then it was found the contract’s “consideration” of $25,000 carried instructions ol’ Luis had to be tortured a bit before being sent to the big cabana in the sky.

I’ve always had an active imagination, but an irate lady beat me a mile when drawing up a really mean contract.

G. George Ostrom is a an award-winning columnist. He lives in Kalispell.