A Legal Offer Is No Joke
By Amy E. Feldman
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - I'll give you a million dollars if you'll listen to this. Actually, never mind. Listen or don't.
Bill Maher is the latest celebrity to find that you should be prepared to put your money where your mouth is. He promised to pay $5 million if Donald Trump could prove that he wasn't the spawn of an orangutan, which Trump somehow managed to prove.
Trump has now sued for the money.
This follows the case of hip hop artist Ryan Leslie, who promised a million dollars if someone found and returned his lost laptop. He set up a hotline for tips to get it back and publicized his offer. A judge found he created a binding contract and Leslie had to pay up.
It is very unlikely that a judge would see Maher's statement as a legitimate offer, but rather just a joke. I mean, he didn't really think Trump was half orangutan. Right?
The bottom line is that you shouldn't make an offer that someone could claim constituted a binding contract on which they relied or they'll wind up making a monkey out of you.
