You cannot Profit from Your Own Illegality

Remember this adage: You cannot profit from your own illegality. In a recent case, parties entered into a promissory note for the repayment of gambling debts. Naturally, the promissory note was not repaid and a lawsuit on the note was initiated. However, the promissory note was illegal as a matter of law and parties cannot ratify an otherwise illegal transaction: [Florida Statute] Section 849.26 provides that “[a]ll promises, agreements, notes, bills, bonds or other contracts, mortgages or other securities . . . for the repayment of money lent or advanced at the time of a gambling transaction for the purpose of being...

17 November

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What Constitutes an Enforceable Contract?

Posted by David Adelstein

in Appeal

An enforceable or valid contract requires an offer, acceptance of that offer, consideration, and sufficient specification of material terms. Jericho All-Weather Opportunity Fund, LP v. Pier Seventeen Marina, 41 Fla. L. Weekly D2565a (Fla. 4th DCA 2016). Whether a contract actually constitutes an enforceable contract is subject to a de novo standard of appellate review; this is the same appellate standard of review pertaining to an appeal of a trial court’s interpretation of a contract. See id. The case in Jericho All-Weather Opportunity Fund exemplifies a party suing on the wrong contract and, thus, an appellate court reversing a judgment in...