Packaging techniques for low-altitude Venus balloons beacon

The results of a specific design project for the Venus balloon beacon, in which a microwave beacon is required to operate for a limited time at high temperature (350 C) and at high pressure, (10 bars). In a chemically hostile environment after surviving large mechanical shock forces (up to 280 gs) are discussed. It was found that many existing, commerically-available component can be used in such a design with only minor modifications. A further result is that a crude (and consequently low-cost) test program can be designed to identify and select promising commercial components

The Promissory Character of Adequate Assurances of Performance

Part I provides the reader with an account of the development of the doctrine of adequate assurances from its earliest roots in the doctrine of anticipatory repudiation. Part II explains the workings of the modern doctrine in the context of a recent case. In Part III, I argue that promises made in response to a demand for adequate assurances can be understood as a class of enforceable promises. In Parts IV and V, I attempt to work out the back-end consequences that would result from treating assurances as enforceable promises

The Promissory Character of Adequate Assurances of Performance

Part I provides the reader with an account of the development of the doctrine of adequate assurances from its earliest roots in the doctrine of anticipatory repudiation. Part II explains the workings of the modern doctrine in the context of a recent case. In Part III, I argue that promises made in response to a demand for adequate assurances can be understood as a class of enforceable promises. In Parts IV and V, I attempt to work out the back-end consequences that would result from treating assurances as enforceable promises

Mistake and Disclosure in a Model of Two-Sided Informational Inputs

This paper will examine some theoretical aspects of contractual non-disclosure and the related doctrine of unilateral mistake. These two legal rubrics are conceptually similar; each is concerned with the degree to which parties must communicate their understandings about the nature of the contract into which they are about to enter. If one party fails to reveal enough information, the other party may enter into the agreement under a misunderstanding and consequently may attempt to avoid contractual liability on the basis of mistake or on a theory of nondisclosure. The law of contracts clearly attaches a great deal of importance to ensuring that contracting parties have a mutual understanding about their agreement - a meeting of the minds - for that is the cornerstone of mutual assent. Indeed, one of the foundational theoretical goals of contract doctrine is to establish rules of law that will induce parties to reveal information that will reduce the cost of contracting and minimize the negative effects of breach. This “information forcing” concept has received substantial attention by many leading scholars as the animating principle behind the rule of Hadley v. Baxendale, which limits consequential damages to those that are foreseeable (i.e., those that have been communicated by the party seeking damages)

The Promissory Character of Adequate Assurances of Performance

Part I provides the reader with an account of the development of the doctrine of adequate assurances from its earliest roots in the doctrine of anticipatory repudiation. Part II explains the workings of the modern doctrine in the context of a recent case. In Part III, I argue that promises made in response to a demand for adequate assurances can be understood as a class of enforceable promises. In Parts IV and V, I attempt to work out the back-end consequences that would result from treating assurances as enforceable promises

PSLRA, SLUSA, and Defrauded Retirement Investors: Overlooked Side Effects of a Potent Legislative Medicine

This Article highlights a harmful and far-reaching unintended consequence of two major pieces of securities litigation reform legislation that were passed as part of the Republican party\u27s Contract with America in the mid-1990s. These reforms were justified, in part, on the grounds that they would benefit investors by improving disclosure of financial information by corporations. However, for many aggrieved investors, the effect of the legislation was just the opposite. Because of inadequate and misleading disclosures made by life insurance companies and their registered representatives, consumers were induced to purchase inappropriate investments carrying excessive fees that reduced the value of their retirement nest eggs. Had the purveyors of these variable annuities adequately disclosed the nature of the product and fully explained the complicated factors that go into a decision to purchase a variable annuity, most consumers would not have purchased variable annuities with tax-deferred moneys from their Individual Retirement Accounts (“IRAs”) and 401(k)s

Of Outside Monitors and Inside Monitors: The Role of Journalists in Caremark Litigation

In this article I argue for a change in Delaware corporate law that would allow for competitive forces to improve the quality of corporate compliance programs, thus reducing harm to society from corporate illegality and improving shareholder welfare. Specifically, courts should remove some obstacles that prevent plaintiffs in shareholder derivative actions from forcing defendant directors to demonstrate the efficacy of their compliance programs in cases where outside monitoring by journalists appears to have detected illegal corporate actions before those actions have been detected by the internal monitoring of the compliance department. Currently, the rigorous demand requirement and the deferential good faith standard in duty to monitor cases cause most Caremark claims to be dismissed at the demand phase, thus shielding defendant directors from revealing information about the performance of their compliance programs. The changes I suggest will force corporate defendants to reveal information that will allow courts to compare the monitoring performed by journalists with that done by compliance programs. Where the outside monitors are outperforming the inside monitors, directors may be responsible for failing to perform their duty to monitor, which requires them to establish systems to detect and report illegal behavior by employees. By implementing the modest changes I suggest, Delaware courts will, over time, have more information to help them assess whether their approach to the duty to monitor needs a more thorough overhaul