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Perfect writing is that sort of writing which you would love to read aloud.

At the age of sixty Zaminder Ramsaran suddenly realized he had made no arrangements for his afterlife. He treated his villagers well, he made good money and spent it judiciously, his sons were grown men and good people, his daughters married into good families, his wife and he spent time doting [...]]]> Ramsaraner Kasi Yatra

At the age of sixty Zaminder Ramsaran suddenly realized he had made no arrangements for his afterlife. He treated his villagers well, he made good money and spent it judiciously, his sons were grown men and good people, his daughters married into good families, his wife and he spent time doting on their grandchildren, and he liked his evening hookah on the rooftop as the sun went down beyond the coconut trees on the horizon – all these things he had, but what about God? What would happen to him when he died? These thoughts worried him, and made him restless. Ramsaran was a self-made man; having been born poor, he had braved the world and made a good life for himself. But at the age of sixty, his conviction left him. A strange desolation gnawed at his soul, and he called his wife to the rooftop.

“ Here, chew on a betel-leaf, Sibur Ma, and listen to me,” he said to his wife.

Maheswari was one of those women whose age and increasing girth only accentuated her youthful beauty by adding gravity to it. She was four years younger than her husband, and having been married to him for the past forty years, had grown old with him. She chewed on the betel-leaf, savouring the astringent taste of the betel-nut, and the acidity of the jarda and the sweetness of the mouri spices; then spat out a mouthful of red betel-juice over the parapet, and said, “ Nupur wanted to return to her in-laws today, but one of the kids, luckily for me – had a fever, so I made her wait until Sunday. Sibu caught a large Rui today, and the kids love my Muri-ghanta. The rain is coming soon, and the roof was leaking, so I called for the work man to come over tomorrow. And listen to this, the milkman has stopped adding water directly, but taken to worse trickery. He is feeding molasses to the cows. I am sure about it, because the milk is still watery, and it smells peculiar.”

Momentarily forgetting his afterlife crisis, Ramsaran exclaimed, “ Damn that milkman! His father was a cheat, and so was his grandfather! Do you remember how that old scoundrel tried to buy land from me in exchange for two of his half-dead cows? The thrashing I gave him that day!”

Maheswari smiled, remembering the “thrashing” -  her husband had finally sold two acres of prime riverine land for two dry cows and a she-goat, unable to refuse the poor old man. Even then, Ramsaran had sought the advice of his young wife, saying how the old man was crying at their door, how he had to pay a large land dowry for his young daughter. She could see that her husband – in spite of his bravado – was feeling sorry for the old man. So she had adroitly taken the old man’s side, which gave her husband the excuse to take the opposite side, thus saving his face while acceding to his wife’s importunities and giving away that land. Maheswari smiled again, fondly, and said, “So what is it I should listen to?”

Ramsaran sat back in the arm-chair and stared moodily beyond. He saw his daughter-in-law lighting the evening lamp in the Sib temple whose orange flag fluttered gaily in the approaching darkness, but did nothing to settle his mind. Oddly, he remembered his mother’s face – who had been dead these twenty years – and felt an absurd sensation of floating in water, abandoned. He sighed.

“ I have decided to go to Kasi, Sibur Ma,” he said to his wife.

“ Kasi, that’s good, it’s been a while since we went anywhere”, Maheswari agreed readily. “ I don’t even remember the last time I went to my father’s village. We can take the children, and the kids would love to- ”

“ – Alone, Sibur Ma,” Ramsaran interrupted her, “ I have decided to go alone. I will leave in three days.” Maheswari just stared at him.

The next three days did not go well. That night Maheswari burnt the cabbage and with too much salt made a mess of the muri-ghanta. In her forty years of cooking muri-ghanta, Maheswari had never fallen to this level; Ramsaran wanted to point this out, but he wondered if the point would be well taken under the circumstances. So he ate glumly, pecking at the rice and drinking three tumblers of water.

The rest of the family was not so restrained, however. Ramsaran’s grandkids had not taken well to the prospect of his sudden disappearance. At first they clamoured vociferously to accompany him, but meeting stout refusal, began complaining about everything else. Somehow they managed to blame Ramsaran for the muri-ghanta disaster, and when he, unable to take it, raised his voice, there was pandemonium. The kids started crying, and their mothers joined them, until the kitchen resembled a funeral.

Only Ramsaran’s three year old grandson kept his cool. Looking up from his tumbler of milk, he asked, “ What is Kasi, granpa?”

“ It is a holy place, child,” his granpa mumbled, “ the abode of Lord Sib.”

“ Why are you going there, granpa? Has Lord Sib asked you to come?” the inquisitive infant asked.

Maheswari coughed, trying to suppress a smile. Irritated, Ramsaran snapped.

“ Drink your milk, Piku.” Thus rebuked for no reason, the child began to cry, louder than anybody else. Ramsaran retired to his room.

The next day, and the day after that, Ramsaran spent taking care of pending affairs of the estate. He owned twenty fish –ponds in the estate where he cultivated Rui, Katla, Bowal, Magur, Koi and other types of fish. Two of his ponds even had lobster. Most of the produce was sold in the market every year. This year, money had been good, and he ordered fresh spawns for the coming year. He went over the fields, testing the soil, deciding when to begin cultivation. Rice was to be planted just before the rains came, and he arranged for farm hands – thirty of them – for that work. He walked through the orchards, admiring the fruit trees; mango, jackfruit, papaya and banana – and a sense of well being permeated through his despondency. For a while he wondered about not going to Kasi – for he knew he might not return – but he shook it off by furiously contemplating his approaching death. Then he went to the cowsheds, fed the animals fresh hay, and took leave of them. The repairman arrived, and he spent a lot of time fussing over the job. His house was an old one, which he had acquired along with the estate. The previous landlord had failed to pay his taxes by sundown on the appointed day, and the redfaces auctioned out his land. Ramsaran did not like the redfaces, but for this one time he was glad. That year there had been a drought, but Ramsaran alone had anticipated it and saved up his produce. So he made a lot of money, enabling him to buy the estate and the old house. Now, as he looked around the roof, he saw the bricks loosened, and the cement eroded by the sun and rain of a hundred years. There were a few peepul trees which had grown in the cracks, one of them as tall as a man. The roots of these trees bore through the roof, destroying the structure. He uprooted the peepul himself, grunting, and instructed the repairman to mend the hole at that place. Then he left to pack his things for the journey.

In those days, there were two ways to go to Kasi from Palaspur. One was the easy way, where he could travel to Calcutta on foot, palki or horseback, which took about a week, depending. Then from Calcutta he could take the train, and by the following day arrive at Kasi. Then there was the hard, age-old route, where he could walk the old Puri road southwards, arriving at its junction to the ancient road of Nawab Sher Shah. Here, he would turn west, travelling on foot for two months to reach Kasi. This road went over hills and forests, which were infested with highwaymen. Conforming to the pilgrim’s traditional desire to come to the Lord in the hardest possible way, Ramsaran chose to walk all the way to Kasi.

He packed lightly, therefore; a few clothes and the Gita in a small bundle, to be hung over the shoulders from his staff. Cautiously, he hid two gold mohurs inside the sole of his shoes. In another bag he had some parched rice and enough small change to buy food on the way. In those days travel was hard but charity was cheap – he would not go hungry on a pilgrimage.

The evening prior to his departure, he called his two sons to himself to discuss the business of the estate. They listened to his instructions, and appeared to accept his forthcoming absence stoically; but when he brought out the will that he had prepared, he was surprised to see them trying to hide their tears. Ramsaran was moved. That night after dinner, he went to bed in a deeply thoughtful mood.

He lay down on his side of the bed and listened to Maheswari shut the doors of the big, old house. Somewhere outside an owl hooted, followed by the sharp cry of a small animal. The moon rose above the palm trees outside his windows, and a gentle breeze shook the palm fronds. Maheswari came in and lay down on her side.

Husband and wife of forty years lay quietly while fireflies twinkled outside in the night. Such had been their life through all these years, like fireflies twinkling in the darkness; and neither regretted it. Yet Ramsaran had this unrest in his mind. He did not understand it too well. Ramsaran was pious enough, but his piety was directed more towards this world than the next. He had never worried his head about issues of religion, assuming that if he took care of this life, the afterlife will take care of itself. Now he wondered if his present unrest was a worry about his own passing away, or the passing away of those that were close to him.

But he said, “I have to go Maheswari, you understand? Tomorrow I have to leave.” It had been years since he had called his wife by name, he realized as he said this. Last time had been when they were young.

Maheswari was quiet for a while; then she said, “ Do you remember when Sibu was born, how hard it rained that night? I thought the night will never end.”

Ramsaran smiled, remembering, “Yes, and I didn’t know anything, what to do, so I went to the midwife’s house in that storm and rain. Old hag didn’t want to come, but I dragged her out of her hut.”

“ How did you even find your way back? Those days we lived in a hut in the middle of a jungle.”

“ Didn’t I ever tell you? The wind had blown out the lamps, and I was wandering around in the darkness with a very angry midwife in tow, when I suddenly heard a baby crying in the forest.”

“ Yes, Sibu was already out by the time you returned, I remember. What a night that was!”

The couple was silent for a while. The old house creaked and groaned in the moonlight, and a night fisherman began a song in the river beyond the village.

Then Maheswari sighed, and said, “Go to sleep, husband, long way to go tomorrow.”

“ Yes, this is it.”

“ Where are you going, do you think?”

“ As long as I think, I am going somewhere.”

“ And when you cease thinking?”

“ I won’t cease thinking.”

“ Why not?”

“ Because – ”

“ Because?”

“ Because I do not [...]]]> “ So  this is it, then ? ”

“ Yes, this is it.”

“ Where are you going, do you think?”

“ As long as I think, I am going somewhere.”

“ And when you cease thinking?”

“ I won’t cease thinking.”

“ Why not?”

“ Because – ”

“ Because?”

“ Because I do not remember when I began thinking.”

The red sun touched the rim of the sea and floated lazily. There was a stillness in the air, a soundlessness carved out of their light breathing. An aging darkness slowly gathered around the eastern sky, only this time it would become ageless. A few stars appeared like freckles on the pretty face of the evening, and one wondered if they made her more beautiful, or less. But there weren’t any to wonder.( If there was no one to wonder, how come “ one wondered”?)

“ Do you love me Sund?”

“ Strange! I had the same question.”

“ For me?”

“ No, for me.”

“ What did you reply?”

“ The reply was all wrong.”

“ Tell me what it was.’

“ The reply was “ maybe”, but that was wrong. I definitely do love you, or I definitely don’t. There cannot be any maybe about it.”

“ Sund?”

“ Yeah?”

“ Do you need another drink?”

He grinned at her and said, “ Come here Amel.”

Hold my hand. Lets go for a walk across the darkening flatlands. Do not be swayed by the wind, do not be hurt by the thorn. If your feet bleed, step on this white cloth across my chest, so that I may hold the imprint of your feet upon my heart. See, darling girl, even the thorn has its use. It hurts you so that I may know you, and makes you bleed so that I may remember you as I had known you.

“ Sund, do you see that tree over there?”

“ I don’t see any tree anywhere, Amel.”

“ If you don’t, just imagine one for me, please.”

Stand here hand in hand, our white cotton clothes warmly lit by a dying sun. This sun had died many times before, today it would become deathless. What if a breeze doesn’t blow, what if there is no stardust across your eye-brow? You are still alive, I can feel your warm hand on mine, and this day unto us a communion.

“ Remember Sund, when we were children, we used to play under that tree.”

“ If you say so, Amel.”

“ We used to roll in the dust and laugh, and mother used to yell at us to stop.”

“ Mother?”

“ Yes.”

“ Alright, Amel.”

Amel is so beautiful I want to cry. Her wispy, curly, darkly black hair swirls lightly in the wind. Her frilly white skirt is so soft I want to hug her and never let go. I want to bury my face in her dark hair and smile at the sun. I want to touch her glistening throat with my lips and inhale her deeply. I want her, d’you hear? I want her.

“ You used to kneel on the ground like a horse, and I used to ride on your back. You were a big bully even then, my darling, but you wouldn’t ever hurt me, would you, Sund?”

“ Well….”

“ Do you remember the first time you kissed me? And the first time we…. touched?”

“ Um hmm.”

“ We made love for the first time that evening, and it was so precious. Do you remember that Sund?”

“ I really don’t remember anything at all, Amel.”

“ Well, if you don’t, just imagine it then….”

“ If you insist.”

This lake here, blue in a curvy bowl of flawless green, let us sit here together. Let me listen to the sound of your everlasting presence around me. When this day is dying, isn’t it so wonderful that the last deathless thing is my love for you?

“ Sund?”

“ Yes?”

“ Where have they all gone? This place feels so lonely.”

‘ They are all gone, Amel, but you are never lonely when you are all alone.”

“ And when you are with me?”

“ When I am with you, baby, you are all alone.”

“ Hey!”

“ Hey you!”

“ You called me baby!”

“ So I did, baby!”

“ I want to have a baby with you, Sund, so that something  remains of our love when we are gone.”

And the wind sighs in the willows, on a perfectly windless evening, in a perfectly treeless tract of land. Somewhere on an already dead planet a child cries, and there, deep down in the valley, among the swirling mists, a dog barks. All signs of pain; even if the signs don’t exist, who can say that the pain doesn’t?

“ We can’t, Amel.”

Why, asks the quiet voice of a disappointed child.

“ You know why. We are standing at the edge of the universe. Where will the child fall?”

“ Maybe you are right, Amel(Sund?). But I do want one.”

“ Let that desire be our child then, and may it grow up well.”

The city sits quietly at the edge of the ocean. Let us walk across this bridge and enter the city. Beautiful gardens surround the ocean-front. May we pluck a rose? Who cares? Who is to say no? May we pluck two?

Tall buildings, glitzy shops and restaurants. Wide paved roads one atop the other going up into the sky. Dark corridors, little known nooks and corners where everything but life had passed by. Is there anybody here? Is there anybody around?

You answer yes, and you ask me, and I answer yes, and we comfort each other. Is there anybody else around?

“ You remember, Amel, our life at college? All those care-free days?”

“ And the games that we played, and those wonderful travels to places far away?”

“ Yes, and then how we stayed together, and cooked and laughed and made love?”

“ Made what?”

“ Love, Amel.”

“ If you say so, Sund.”

“ Hey!”

“ Hey you!”

“ Have I seen you somewhere before?”

The city is left far behind, and the wanderers hold hands and walk. Their footfalls mingle into the music of the universe and give it rhythm. They are the last of the children of love, and even their breathing has a meaning. They stand at the edge of history and yet they are the sinless ones. Our hearts fill with joy, for we have triumphed in them. We have become immortals.(Who are “they”and who are “we”)

“ Have you ever wondered about time?”

“ Not ever, Amel.”

“ Have you wondered how the years go by, leaving traces here and there?”

“ Which years, Amel?”

“ These that we lived, and those that came before?”

“ We are the traces of every year that has ever gone by.”

“ Me and you?”

“ No, me and you.”

“ Will we leave traces, too?”

“ Yes, Amel, we will, those footprints behind you.”

“ Only footprints, Sund?”

“ What else is there, Amel?”

One tear-drop gathers deep in the heart of Amel. Fed by the bubbling well that lies at the centre of her heart, it grows and arrives at her mind. Here it gathers memories and other flotsam of life, washes them down in the sombre silence that had sprung it first. Then, its cleansing done, it trickles down the corner of her beautiful eye(eyes?).

“ You have understood then, Amel?”

“ Yes my love, so have I.”

A billion years of struggle came to an end last night. This was real. I saw their dead faces at dawn. It had to end sometime, and I was the last one left alive before the day ended and smothered us all. But I wandered around, enjoying the last warm day on earth, and I met Amel.

I had never seen her, nor she me, but love had to flow somewhere, memories had to be someone.

“ Hold my hand, Sund, and do not let go.”

“ Yes.”

“ I am so afraid.”

“ Yes.”

“ I am afraid to be the last one left alive.”

“ There are two of us.”

“ Let me go first then, Sund, for you are stronger than me.”

Now I wait here by the seaside for the sun to burst into flames after billions of years of existence. I see whispering shadows and I know who they are. They have gathered from all ages and times to watch me go. I am the consummation of their history, and this girl that lies on my lap, her eyes closed.(,?) I will love her always, whatever it means.

An informative or authoritative paper which proposes a definitive solution to a problem. Academic white papers are written for the usual academic purposes, while commercial white papers are nowadays used by corporates to sell a particular service or a product in an effectively informative way.

Our White Paper Writing Style:

A. Determining the [...]]]> What is a white paper:

An informative or authoritative paper which proposes a definitive solution to a problem. Academic white papers are written for the usual academic purposes, while commercial white papers are nowadays used by corporates to sell a particular service or a product in an effectively informative way.

Our White Paper Writing Style:

A. Determining the Purpose and Audience: We begin planning a paper by determining the purpose of the paper and its target audience. We ask detailed questions to the client to determine whether the white paper has an academic or a commercial purpose, and try to learn about the demographic parameters of the target audience.

B. Identifying the Problem: Once we have understood A above, we try and describe the problem the white paper will address in one brief sentence, if possible. Then we collect background information to make this problem more visible and clear to readers.

C. Suggestive Solution Identification: After describing the problem as clearly as possible using background material, we try to create a scope where we can propose our solution in a manner that will create an “aha” response from the reader. If we fail to make the reader arrive at the solution one moment after they read our proposal, we have not done our job properly.

D. Our Products/Services: For commercial white papers, we smoothly introduce our products/services at this point, as a logical example of the solution that has been identified.

E. Summary, References and Diagrams: The summary is written at the end, but goes at the front. References are only given for material we have actually read, while Suggested Reading may sometimes be included for a broader bibliographical purpose. We create/design graphics and diagrams, where relevant, to illustrate a major point.

Please write to us at indogeniclegal@gmail.com for more information.

Most synthetic clothing on the market contains these nasty chemicals. Do you respect your body? Do you respect how you [...]]]> Would you like your child to play with chemicals like FORMALDEHYDE, CAUSTIC SODA, SULFURIC ACID, BROMINES, UREA RESINS, SULFONAMIDES, HALOGENS, and BROMINES? No? Then don’t buy that synthetic T-shirt for your child. Go for organic clothing.

Most synthetic clothing on the market contains these nasty chemicals. Do you respect your body? Do you respect how you look? Do you care about keeping the earth green? Then don’t buy synthetic. Know why? Harmful Chemicals. You need about half-a-pound of harmful chemical pesticide and fertilizer to grow enough conventional cotton for making just one synthetic T-shirt. That nice synthetic T-shirt contains chemicals that can cause hives, allergies, Multiple Chemical Sensitivities Syndrome or MCSS, dermatitis, antimony-poisoning, and even cancer. You don’t want any of that! So, buy organic, buy organic clothing. Save the earth, save yourself, save your children, go organic.

Contract Disputes

Real estate contract litigation, in Florida and elsewhere, involves general laws of contract as well as particular statutory and common law rules. The same principles of law that govern contracts in general apply to contracts that are purchase and sale agreements, installment land contracts, options to purchase, leases, or other [...]]]>

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Contract Disputes

Real estate contract litigation, in Florida and elsewhere, involves general laws of contract as well as particular statutory and common law rules. The same principles of law that govern contracts in general apply to contracts that are purchase and sale agreements, installment land contracts, options to purchase, leases, or other types of instruments.

It is therefore imperative to consider both the general laws of contract as well as particular statutes relevant to the matter at hand in order to provide a comprehensive analysis of a legal dispute. For example, rules applicable to contract interpretation, requirements for contract formation and enforceability, and other such issues involving general contract laws are important in litigation involving real estate agreements. Again, particular state laws, or those that do not accept aspects of the Uniform Commercial Code (for example, the most recent revision of UCC § 2-201 increases the triggering point for the UCC Statute of Frauds to $5,000, but as of 2008 no U.S. state has adopted revised Section 201.) can also become important.

Essential to the formation of a contract is the concept of a “meeting of minds” where written letters specifying intent and provisions of exchange form a contract by offer and acceptance [Florida Statute 680.206]. An Offer is a written or spoken statement indicating a person’s willingness to be held to a certain commitment upon acceptance. A good offer presumes two things; one, that it is serious, and two, that it identifies the object offered in a manner such that a court can enforce the contract or determine damages if the contract is broken. A valid Acceptance of an offer requires, among other things, that the offer be still good, that its subject matter not be illegal, or be in the condition in which it was described in the offer, etc. Each of these issues can be crucial in a litigation to determine enforceability of a real estate contract.

Other commonly litigated issues in real estate contract disputes include applicability of the statute of frauds, acts constituting breach, questions concerning title to real property, and the availability of particular remedies. Only the first of these is discussed here; we will address the other issues in separate white papers.

The Statute Of Frauds

The statute of frauds provides that certain types of contracts are unenforceable unless evidenced by a writing. Several types of real estate contracts come within the statute of frauds. [Civ. Code §1624]. Under Florida law, contracts involving goods priced at $500 or more, promises to pay the debts of another, promises made in consideration of marriage, and promises that cannot be fulfilled within one year must be written to be valid. Similarly, a personal representative’s promise to pay the debts of an estate, a promise to pay a debt barred by the statute of limitations, home solicitation sales, home improvement contracts, contracts concerning an interest in land, health care guarantees, newspaper subscriptions, and credit agreements must be written.

Florida Statute 672.201 describes the statute of fraud in this manner:

(1) Except as otherwise provided in this section a contract for the sale of goods for the price of $500 or more is not enforceable by way of action or defense unless there is some writing sufficient to indicate that a contract for sale has been made between the parties and signed by the party against whom enforcement is sought or by his or her authorized agent or broker. A writing is not insufficient because it omits or incorrectly states a term agreed upon but the contract is not enforceable under this paragraph beyond the quantity of goods shown in such writing.

(2) Between merchants if within a reasonable time a writing in confirmation of the contract and sufficient against the sender is received and the party receiving it has reason to know its contents, it satisfies the requirements of subsection (1) against such party unless written notice of objection to its contents is given within 10 days after it is received.

Pertinent to real estate litigation, the following are further situations where the statute of fraud becomes applicable:
(1) an agreement to lease real property for a period longer than 1 year, or to sell real property or an interest in real property. [Civ. Code §1624(a)(3); see Civ. Code §1091(estate in real property other than estate at will or for term of 1 year or less can be transferred only by operation or law or by instrument in writing)];

(2) an agreement authorizing another for compensation to purchase or sell real estate, to lease real estate for more than 1 year, or to find a purchaser, seller, lessee, or lessor of real estate for a term of more than 1 year. [Civ. Code §1624(a)(4); see Civ. Code §§1091, 2309]; and
(3) an agreement by a purchaser of real property to pay a debt secured by a mortgage or deed of trust, unless assumption of the debt by the purchaser is specifically provided for in the conveyance of real property. [Civ. Code §1624(a)(1)].
(4) contracts creating a joint tenancy [Civ. Code §683]
(5) contracts which by their terms are not to be performed within 1 year [Civ. Code §1624(a)(4) and
(6) agreements to arbitrate disputes [Code Civ. Proc. §§1280(f), 1281, 1281.2]

The “Equal Dignities Rule” expands on the statute of fraud by requiring an authorization for someone performing certain acts for another person to have been appointed with the same formality as required for the act the representative is going to perform. This means, for example, that if a principal authorizes someone to sell the principal’s house or other real property, and the law requires a contract for the sale of real property to be in writing (which is required under the “Statute of Frauds” in most U.S. jurisdictions), then the authorization for the other person to sign the sales contract and deed must be in writing too. [Civ. Code §2309]

Exceptions To Statute Of Frauds Requirements

A broad application of this statute can have inequitable consequences, considering which a number of exceptions to it have evolved in common law and by legislature. Some of these are:

Equitable Estoppel: Equitable estoppel operates to relieve oral contracts from the statute of frauds and makes them binding where: (1) the defendant represents by words or conduct that he or she will stand by the agreement and the plaintiff detrimentally relies on this representation[ Fl. St. 672.201.3(b)

Unconscionability: Unconscionable injury to the plaintiff or unjust enrichment of the defendant would result from a refusal to enforce the agreement

Justifiable Reliance: Where the owner of real property has changed his or her position in reliance on an oral purchase offer, the buyer may be estopped from avoiding the contract on the basis of the statute of frauds.

Executed Oral Agreements: In addition, executed oral agreements are exempt from the statute. Where a bilateral oral contract has been fully executed by one party, the remaining promise is outside the statute of frauds and the party who has performed may enforce the agreement against the other party.

Partial Performance: Although an estate or interest in real property, other than a lease for a term of 1 year or less, can be created only by a signed writing [Code Civ. Proc. §1971], this does not abridge the power of any court to compel the specific performance of an agreement in case of partial performance of the agreement [Code Civ. Proc. §1972]. Partial performance in this context generally means that the purchaser or lessee has taken actual, open, and notorious possession of the property.

Fraud: If the fraud of one of the contracting parties prevents a contract within the statute of frauds from being reduced to writing, the contract may be enforceable against the fraudulent party. Any other party who is led by the fraud to believe that the contract is in writing and acts on that belief to his or her prejudice may enforce the contract against the fraudulent party. [Civ. Code §1623] Further, even where an oral agreement is unenforceable as a contract, the misled party may bring a separate action for fraud.

Jumbo Loan Foreclosures

What is jumbo loan?

A jumbo loan is simply a home loan for property in the continental United States that exceeds $417,000, whether the funds are used to purchase a new home or to refinance an existing mortgage. For residents of Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, mortgages are not considered to be jumbo loans until they exceed $625,000. Jumbo loans are simply mortgage loans made for amounts that exceed the limit for conforming home loans.

What is a foreclosure?

Foreclosure is the legal and professional proceeding in which a mortgagee, or other lienholder, usually a lender, obtains a court ordered termination of a mortgagor’s equitable right of redemption. Usually a lender obtains a security interest from a borrower who mortgages or pledges an asset like a house to secure the loan. If the borrower defaults and the lender tries to repossess the property, courts of equity can grant the borrower the equitable right of redemption if the borrower repays the debt. While this equitable right exists, the lender cannot be sure that it can successfully repossess the property, thus the lender seeks to foreclose the equitable right of redemption.

Jumbo loan foreclosures

Foreclosure proceedings vary from state to state. In states where mortgages are used, homeowners can end up staying in the property for almost a year; whereas, in states where trust deeds are used, a homeowner has less than four months before the trustee’s sale. Almost every state provides for some period of redemption. This means that the homeowner has an irrevocable right during a certain length of time to cure the default, including paying all foreclosure costs, back interest and missed principal payments, to regain control of the property. Many states also require that sellers give to buyers certain disclosures regarding equity purchases. Failure to provide those notices and to prepare offers on the required paperwork can result in fines, lawsuits or even revocation of sale.

A large number of the jumbo loans are made out in Florida, and buyers not only from various parts of the US but also from the European Union flock to Florida for our sunny weather and beautiful oceanfront properties. But the recent downturn in the economy has created a lot of problems:

About 6.9% of prime “jumbo” loans were at least 90 days delinquent in December 2008, according to LPS Applied Analytics, a mortgage-data research firm. Jumbo mortgages average about $750,000 and can run as high as $5 million or more. The obvious result of these nonperforming loans is less jumbo lending and less money available to prop up high end Miami real estate. Florida is in a league of its own as jumbo loans are running at about a 17% delinquency rate overall! It goes without saying that this insane delinquency rate implies massive future foreclosures and consequently, downward price pressure on high end real estate.

How to get your deposit back: Changed Condo Declaration

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A tool that combines a letter opener, a staple remover and a bubble level in one compact and sturdy nylon filled plastic made body.

patent law writing

Previous Research Done:

An initial prior art search was conducted by Dirt Cheap Patents. This study claimed to distribute the finds into two categories A [...]]]> The Piece of Art in Question:

A tool that combines a letter opener, a staple remover and a bubble level in one compact and sturdy nylon filled plastic made body.

patent law writing

Previous Research Done:

An initial prior art search was conducted by Dirt Cheap Patents. This study claimed to distribute the finds into two categories A and B according to relevance, as is the standard practice. However, the current reviewer did not find this categorization in the attached document describing the prior art search, and the listings seemed to this reviewer to be cursorily done and without providing any valuable analysis on patentibility. This search concluded that since a few patents existed which combined a letter opener and a staple remover, therefore the art in question did not have novelty. Also, it found that even though the addition of a bubble level was not present in the prior art, it was not non-obvious. This study did not mention whether a design patent was possible. Neither did it provide substantial analysis and proof of conclusion.

Our Research:

We conducted our research not to invalidate the current art’s patent claim by establishing obviousness, but to enquire whether anything in the present art merited a conclusion of non-obviousness and whether, based on that, an endeavor should be made to file for an utility patent on this art. Therefore our aim was not to find lists of prior art one or more of whose claims resemble ours. Our aim was to try and find one art which combines a bubble level with a letter opener and a staple remover, and if such an art is not found, then to analyze whether given that

• No such art is found
• The bubble level is made the principal of the art
• Other arts exist which are combinations of letter openers, staple removers and other elements
• The above-mentioned arts can be shown to be more obvious than ours
• Even then, these arts received patents

Whether, given all these, we can effectively and with some hopes of receiving a patent, file for a utility patent for this current art.

We conducted our research in the USPTO and the PCT archives, as well as by studying recent Supreme Court decisions on the subject. Our standard of review was based on our aim to see if a utility patent application could be filed for this art with any chance of success.

Opinion:

Following the Supreme Court’s 2007 decision in KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc (127 S. Ct. 1727 (2007)), it has become very important to address non-obviousness while considering applying for a patent. In fact, most utility patents get rejected due to their inability to prove non-obviousness. The following is therefore intended to provide in layman’s terms the most non-obvious characteristics of the art in question as it appears to the present author.

Uniqueness: The uniqueness of this tool is in the bubble level. We need to look at this tool, therefore, not as a letter opener and staple remover with a bubble level but as a bubble level with a letter opener and staple remover.

Intended locale of use: This viewpoint changes the intended use locale of this tool. This is not just another office tool (what would a Wall Street office-goer be doing with a bubble level?); this is a handy bubble level tool intended to be used by carpenters, stone masons, bricklayers, other building trades workers, surveyors, millwrights and other metalworkers, and serious videographers (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_level) which also functions as a letter opener and a staple remover.

Utility: The people who generally use a bubble level tool have to carry a lot of instruments around, and a combo instrument which can be carried on person and which saves space is a very desirable art. Often, these handymen may have a small office space where they receive letters over the mail, do some bookkeeping, etc. But these are not full-fledged offices, and regular office tools like letter openers and staple removers might not be present.  For such people, it is not impossible that they will not have regular office tools handy, since they do not work in an office. But they always require a bubble level in their work, and if the other two tools are combined with this bubble level, it will be easier for them to remember to carry them along.

Novelty: Such a tool did not exist before even though there was a need for it (you can literally see the patent examiner thinking: if I am a handyman, I will carry a bubble level along, but I most probably will not think of having a letter opener and a staple remover on me. So when I need them, I might have to search around. This tool, therefore, is a very useful thing for handymen).

Non-obviousness: There is no prior art that combines a handyman’s bubble level with such regular office accessories like staple removers and letter openers. This is precisely because such a combination is not at all obvious. To most people, an office tool like a staple remover or a letter opener reminds one of a sophisticated office set-up, while a handyman’s office is more like a large warehouse-type room full of lathe and power tools etc with a desk thrown in where there are a few dirty notebooks for accounts and a broken pen with its end chewed. In such a setting, the existence of a bubble level tool will not surprise anyone, but regular office tools probably will. But handymen do get mails too, and like everyone else, they have to struggle with staples. This is not obvious to most people, but this is a definite need that this tool fulfills.

Its non-obviousness is also inferred from the fact that while people have combined letter openers and staple removers with writing instruments (see United States Patent 6,163,910, Multi-function tool combining a writing implement with a letter opener and a staple puller), no one has ever combined such diverse tools as a bubble level used by out-of-office workers with letter openers and staple removers which are used inside offices.

Now, United States Patent 6,163,910 is a pretty obvious art when compared to the current art, and yet it was granted a patent. This art combines elements that all co-exist in an office setting, and such a combination seems quite obvious. But our tool combines tools used in an office with a tool used outside, in a way that people who work outside the office can still benefit from the use of regular office tools. Our art is not just non-obvious, because it combines such unrelated artifacts, but due to that same reason, its scope of utility too is much broader.

Claims: When writing the claims, please concentrate on the bubble level as the dominant part of the tool and the other two as added accessories. That way, the claims can be made as broad as possible without making them obvious in prior art. We did not find any  prior art that combines a bubble level with any office tools.

Relevant Prior Art: Our novelty and infringement issues will mainly be with a patent like United States Patent 7,125,145 (Multi-purpose equipment 10 is disclosed having a modular housing 12, a multi-function module 14 for containing electronic or mechanical devices, a tool pod 16 having multiple tools 106 pivotally attached thereto, an accessory compartment 18 for removably containing, for example, a disposable lighter 32. Module 14 is preferably removable and is adapted contain an electronic or mechanical device, such as a mechanical compass 172, an electronic compass 215, or other electronic devices. Tool pod 16 includes a plurality of pivotally attached tools 106. A lanyard 34 may also be provided to tether module 14 to housing 12.) and relevant parts thereof (Multi-function module 214 may optionally include a small dish-shaped bubble level (not shown), which would preferably be embedded in compass 215. The inclusion of a bubble level would aid in the calibration of electronic compass 215 in altimeter mode, which will be discussed in detail herein, as well as improving the accuracy of compass 215 in compass mode.)

This patent is the closest that comes to our art when considered from the point of view of the bubble level. The drafter needs to study this and similar patents thoroughly.

References:

US Classification

CLASS 33, GEOMETRICAL INSTRUMENTS
379      … Bubble:
This subclass is indented under subclass 377.  Device wherein the liquid is within, and nearly filling, a closed receptacle, sufficient space being left superjacent the upper surface of the liquid to simulate a bubble.

Closest International Classification

GO 1C 9/24
In closed containers partially filled with liquid so as to leave a gas bubble

United States Patent 7,125,145

United States Patent 6,163,910

Cases Cited:

KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc (127 S. Ct. 1727 (2007))

Search Summaries:

Results of searching in PCT for:
( bubble AND level AND letter AND opener AND staple AND remover ): 0 records

Results of Search in US Patents Text Collection db for:
(((((bubble AND level) AND letter) AND opener) AND staple) AND remover): 0 patents.

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