The pledgeor died before the full pledge was made Forum

(Study Tips, Dealing With Stress, Maintaining a Social Life, Financial Aid, Internships, Bar Exam, Careers in Law . . . )
Post Reply
bbwinston

New
Posts: 11
Joined: Sat Dec 10, 2011 7:59 pm

The pledgeor died before the full pledge was made

Post by bbwinston » Sun Dec 11, 2011 1:25 am

Milton Polinger pledged $200,000 as a charitable subscription to the United Jewish Appeal Federation of Greater Washington, Inc. (UJA). The pledge was not for a specific purpose and was not made in consideration of pledges by others, and UJA borrowed no money against this pledge. The pledge was to the UJA generally and to the Israel Emergency Fund. After paying $76,500 toward the pledge, Polinger died and the Maryland National Bank was appointed representative of the Polinger estate. The UJA filed a claim against the estate for the balance of $133,500. The bank, however, denied the claim alleging that the promise was unenforceable for lack of consideration. Who wins?

User avatar
jess
Posts: 18149
Joined: Tue Mar 22, 2011 8:27 pm

Re: The pledgeor died before the full pledge was made

Post by jess » Sun Dec 11, 2011 1:37 am

.
Last edited by jess on Fri Oct 27, 2017 2:16 am, edited 1 time in total.

pifhib2

New
Posts: 90
Joined: Sat Oct 22, 2011 12:47 pm

Re: The pledgeor died before the full pledge was made

Post by pifhib2 » Sun Dec 11, 2011 2:40 am

I'm going to go with the bank as well. A possible prommisory estoppel defense could be raised, but in our cases charitable promises were typically only enforced when the school named a building after the donor or something along those lines.

thedive

Bronze
Posts: 122
Joined: Sun Jan 23, 2011 6:07 pm

Re: The pledgeor died before the full pledge was made

Post by thedive » Sun Dec 11, 2011 3:28 am

I would also say the bank. It doesn't seem that the charity relied on the pledge to their detriment, and that enforcing the promise would be necessary to avoid injustice, so I don't think promissory estoppel would work.

User avatar
x7227

Bronze
Posts: 122
Joined: Tue Jun 08, 2010 12:28 pm

Re: The pledgeor died before the full pledge was made

Post by x7227 » Sun Dec 11, 2011 10:40 am

thedive wrote:I would also say the bank. It doesn't seem that the charity relied on the pledge to their detriment, and that enforcing the promise would be necessary to avoid injustice, so I don't think promissory estoppel would work.
As we were taught...RS (2d) §90(2) holds that detrimental reliance is not required for charitable donations (for policy reasons...however other policy reasons may prevent charities for suing to enforce every broken promise). There was the 'Dozo case with the donation to the school, but that was under the first restatement. Just my .02 on the subject.

Want to continue reading?

Register now to search topics and post comments!

Absolutely FREE!


User avatar
AlexanderSupertramp

Bronze
Posts: 167
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2011 10:30 pm

Re: The pledgeor died before the full pledge was made

Post by AlexanderSupertramp » Sun Dec 11, 2011 10:56 am

x7227 wrote:
thedive wrote:I would also say the bank. It doesn't seem that the charity relied on the pledge to their detriment, and that enforcing the promise would be necessary to avoid injustice, so I don't think promissory estoppel would work.
As we were taught...RS (2d) §90(2) holds that detrimental reliance is not required for charitable donations (for policy reasons...however other policy reasons may prevent charities for suing to enforce every broken promise). There was the 'Dozo case with the donation to the school, but that was under the first restatement. Just my .02 on the subject.
I would mention this but add that R2d90 is not widely adopted.

User avatar
Hannibal

Gold
Posts: 2211
Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2010 12:00 pm

Re: The pledgeor died before the full pledge was made

Post by Hannibal » Sun Dec 11, 2011 11:02 am

AlexanderSupertramp wrote:
x7227 wrote:
thedive wrote:I would also say the bank. It doesn't seem that the charity relied on the pledge to their detriment, and that enforcing the promise would be necessary to avoid injustice, so I don't think promissory estoppel would work.
As we were taught...RS (2d) §90(2) holds that detrimental reliance is not required for charitable donations (for policy reasons...however other policy reasons may prevent charities for suing to enforce every broken promise). There was the 'Dozo case with the donation to the school, but that was under the first restatement. Just my .02 on the subject.
I would mention this but add that R2d90 is not widely adopted.
Yeah I'm pretty sure I read the specific case OP is referring to, and in that case the bank won because that part of the restatement wasn't adopted.

thegrayman

Silver
Posts: 531
Joined: Thu May 06, 2010 5:56 pm

Re: The pledgeor died before the full pledge was made

Post by thegrayman » Sun Dec 11, 2011 12:25 pm

that sounds like a similar fact pattern to DeLeo - promise was ruled unenforceable

http://www.lawnix.com/cases/kadimah-deleo.html

User avatar
LeDique

Diamond
Posts: 13462
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2010 2:10 pm

Re: The pledgeor died before the full pledge was made

Post by LeDique » Sun Dec 11, 2011 1:21 pm

There's special policy considerations about charitable promises when the promisor dies too. I'd make sure to talk about those in answering this question. My class went over this on the case where the aunt promises the kid 3000 dollars and dies.

Want to continue reading?

Register for access!

Did I mention it was FREE ?


kublaikahn

Silver
Posts: 647
Joined: Wed Feb 09, 2011 12:47 am

Re: The pledgeor died before the full pledge was made

Post by kublaikahn » Sun Dec 11, 2011 1:34 pm

Argue both sides.

kublaikahn

Silver
Posts: 647
Joined: Wed Feb 09, 2011 12:47 am

Re: The pledgeor died before the full pledge was made

Post by kublaikahn » Sun Dec 11, 2011 1:37 pm

LeDique wrote:There's special policy considerations about charitable promises when the promisor dies too. I'd make sure to talk about those in answering this question. My class went over this on the case where the aunt promises the kid 3000 dollars and dies.

Dougherty. But see Feinberg v. Pfeiffer.

Register now!

Resources to assist law school applicants, students & graduates.

It's still FREE!


Post Reply

Return to “Forum for Law School Students”