Take Two — Did The Scammers Read Blog Post 1,210?

No. 1,213

Non-candidate Joe Biden Comes to Town and Sounds Like a Candidate.

No. 1,212

Image: cbs.local.com

Joe Biden was in Pittsburgh for Labor Day. He made a speech in which he did his imitation of a steel worker. It was comical, actually, because he wasn’t being himself. But he sure sounded like a candidate.

CLT

Trump’s Art of the Deal Tells a Good Story.

No. 1,211

Image: kitla.com

He talks about his 1989 book, “Art of the Deal” so much that I decided that I had to read it. Donald can be forgiven for saying that it is the second best book ever written, second to the Bible. Many authors probably think that about their own books, but few are as candid as Trump.

It was actually better written than I expected. But that could be attributed to the professional co-author. And it was more interesting than I expected. That can be attributed to Trump.

It is not a how-to book. It is an autobiography of an entrepreneur. Lawyers who are involved in real estate deals can learn a lot about their clients by reading Trump. All successful real estate entrepreneurs share certain characteristics, although there is only one Donald Trump.

Although he grew up in his father’s construction business, he didn’t exactly work his way up to building New York City skyscrapers. As a 20 something, with no experience, he decided that he wanted to build the biggest and the best, which meant, to him, Manhattan sky scrapers.

Trump was fortunate that he came on the scene in bad times. In good times, other people would have aced him out. But in bad times, his unconventional, improvised style was able to get the job done. And he was able to convince key people to help him do it.

Trump says that the most important characteristic of of an entrepreneur is intuition. Its the ability to take a risk or not based on fragmentary or contradictory information. He says that some of the most profitable deals he ever made were the ones he walked.

Trump relates that some of the competition employed extensive preparation and research. In the fast-moving and fluid world in which he operated, that gave him a not-so-obvious advantage. He sized up a situation quickly and made a move. Trump acknowledges that a key element to success was being there first. He was able to obtain options on riverfront property in Manhattan owned by the bankrupt Penn Central by contacting Victor Palmieri, who the Trustee had hired to liquidate the rail giant’s assets, on his first day in the office. Trump never flinched at calling up the decision maker and getting his foot in the door with a confident, convincing presentation.

Of course, everything Mr. Trump says must be taken for what it is — a superb sales presentation. He is candid, but not completely candid. He delivers an expertly constructed message. Facts that don’t fit the message don’t get in the book.

He believes in himself totally. And his pitch is very hard to resist.

Art of the Deal goes a long way to explaining how a non-politicia, with a minimal organization and very little preparation can do so well. But can he make a deal with the American electorate? Don’t underestimate the Donald.

CLT

Category: Pittsburgh Legal Back Talk

Why Are Scammers Usually So Poor At Proofreading?

No. 1,210

Category: Pittsburgh Legal Back Talk

A Pox on You, Alex Rios and Kelvin Herrera!

No. 1,209

Yes, there was a chicken pox outbreak in the Kansas City Royals clubhouse. Not shingles, but adult chicken pox.

It seems that the two Latin players were never exposed to the virus, because it doesn’t thrive in the tropics. And they weren’t vaccinated because such vaccinations are not always given in the tropics.

It is speculated that one of them was infected by a child.

And then there are shingles — a chicken pox comeback prevalent in adults who once had the pox and never received a shingles shot.

As a public service, here are a few Q and A’s about chicken pox and shingles that I lifted verbatim from Google.

How long does it take for chicken pox to appear?

The infection can take anywhere from 10 to 21 days to develop after exposure to someone with chicken pox or shingles. People with chicken pox are contagious a couple days before their rash appears and remain so until all of their blisters have scabbed.

How long is the chickenpox contagious?

Patients with chickenpox are contagious for 1 – 2 days before the rash appears and continue to be contagious until all the blisters are crusted over (usually 6-8 days).

Can you get shingles without having had chicken pox?

Shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus, the same virus that causes chickenpox. When people are first infected with the varicella-zoster virus, usually as children, they get chickenpox. Years or decades later, the virus can reactivate and cause shingles. Anyone who has had chickenpox is at risk of shingles.

Can you get chickenpox from someone with shingles?

You can catch chickenpox from someone with shingles if you have not had chickenpox before. But most adults and older children have already had chickenpox, and so are immune. You cannot get shinglesfrom someone who has shingles. The shingles rash is contagious until all the blisters (vesicles) have scabbed and are dry.

CLT

Category: Pittsburgh Legal Back Talk

The Labor Day Parade came early this year.

No. 1,208

Today at lunch time portions of the Boulevard of the Allies and Grant Street were closed for a parade by steel workers. They were protesting a lock out by Allegheny International. Mayor Bill Peduto joined the festivities. That was notable, because you don’t usually expect the mayor to take sides in a labor dispute.

I’ve seen this kind of parade before, but the marchers walked on the sidewalk and didn’t require a police escort. There are also noontime rallies, but they are confined to places like Market Square or the courtyard at the County Courthouse where traffic disruption is rather minimal.

We had a front row view, since our car was trapped behind a saw horse with a traffic officer to make sure we didn’t move it. Actually, there were lots of police, including a motorcycle cavalcade at the head of the column. Very impressive. Very frustrating, too.

We had someplace to be. Fortunately, this time,we had enough time to wait for the parade to go by.

CLT

Category: News Commentary
Tags: Allegheny International > Labor Day > United Steel Workers

Now that we’ve deposed McKinley, lets rename Mt. Rushmore.

No. 1,207

Image: uscitylink.com

Who was Rushmore anyway? A nobody. He was an attorney who used to come to that location to hunt. Look it up.

Of course, you could name it after the sculptor who carved those great faces into the Moutain. That would mean naming it after Gutzon Borglum.

So would it be Mt. Borglum or Mt. Gutzon? Doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue either way.

We can’t call it Mt. McKinley or even Mt. Obama, since there are already four other Presidents on it.

So what about Presidential Mountain? That sounds pretty good. But would we be offending the native Americans who lived there? We wouldn’t want to do that.

What do you think of Mount Geronimo? Mt. Sitting Bull?

Presidential Mountain it is!

Whew! This mountain naming business is hard work.

CLT

Category: Great Lawyers, History
Tags: Mt. McKinley

Don’t fall into the trap of interfering with a contract.

No.1,206

ADLER,BARISH,DANIELS, LEVIN & CRESKOFF v. ALLEN EPSTEIN et al., 428 Pa. 416, 393 A.2d 1175 (1978)

Section 766 of the Restatement of Torts sets forth the elements of this cause of action:

“Intentional Interference with Performance of Contract by Third Person

One who intentionally and improperly interferes with the performance of a contract (except a contract to marry) between another and a third person by inducing or otherwise causing the third person not to perform the contract, is subject to liability to the other for the pecuniary loss resulting to the other from the third person’s failure to perform the contract.”

Interesting. Lawyers sometimes leave a law firm to set up a new practice and invite clients of their old firm to transfer their cases. Although the client has the right to change lawyers, the lawyer does not have the right to interfere with the contract between the old law firm and its client, even if he represented the client at the old firm. In addition, there are ethical issues to consider. This becomes especially important when there is a contingent fee involved. The case linked above and the later cases linked to it discuss this issue in greater detail.

Image: cbssports.com

The event that brought this topic to mind was the outpouring of emotion over the hiring of Mike Vick by the Steelers this weekend. Even after the contract had been signed, people were threatening various reprisals. While none of those threats would be serious enough to cause the Steelers to breach their contract with Vick, the principal applies. If, hypothetically, the Stadium Authority induced the Steelers to breach their contract with Vick by threatening to close Heinz Field, Vick would have a cause of action against both the Steelers and the Authority, who induced the breach of contract.

The moral of this story: “Mind your own business.”

CLT

Category: Civil Litigation
Tags: Intentional Interference with Performance of a Contract

Trump’s Soliloquy

No. 1,205

Image: chicagonow…

Watching Donald Trump on TV is like eating a bag of chips. You know that its not good for you, but you can’t stop.

Tonight he made a speech in Iowa which was carried live in part on three news networks. He rambled through long self-congratulatory stories. It was entertaining, even though baffling at times.It was a lot like the monologue that late night comedians deliver. Except the monologues are shorter and always have a punch line. Trump can be confusing. But the basic message can be summarized in a few simple thoughts.

– The Chinese, Japanese, South Koreans, Iranians, Russians and just about every foreign head of state regularly outsmart the the American President, Secretary of State and anybody working for them.

– American leaders never win because they are not smart as Trump and are way too nice to the opposition.

– The other Republican candidates, especially Bush and Rubio, are just as dumb and weak as the Democrats and cannot be trusted to make good deals with the Chinese, Japanese, etc.

– The solution to illegal immigration is simple. Round ’em up, send them back and build a big wall to keep them from returning. Make Mexico pay for the wall.

– Stop giving citizenship to children of illegals born in America. (This would take a Constitutional Amendment, of course)

– Abolish political correctness.

NEWS FLASH: Those smart Chinese have read “The Art of the Deal” backwards and forward. They have been beating the Americans for years doing all of the things they learned in the book. As a matter of fact, they wrote the book — although their version was called “The Art of War,” So what are we supposed to do now?

OBSERVATION: Most experts used to agree that it was impossible for the US and Mexico to go to war. If I were a smart Mexican President. I’d surrender immediately and let President Trump annex the whole country. The illegal immigration problem would be solved instantly. They’d all be here!

CLT

Category: News Commentary
Tags: Trump

Sunday Rumination on the Week’s News

No. 1,204

Image: gaping void.com

Complete this thought: “Life is short… . .”

Ashley Madison has it half right. Life really is short and it gets shorter all the time. We know it, but we don’t really believe it, at least most of the time. It’s contrary to our nature.

But if you really did believe it, with your dwindling time on this planet, would you do something totally selfish or would you do something else?

Early in the last century, when coal-fired locomotives and coal furnaces were still in use, a father and his children were walking the tracks somewhere east of Pittsburgh, picking up fuel that had been dropped along the way. So absorbed were they in their task, that one of the children failed to observe an oncoming train. With only seconds to spare, the father leaped into the path of the train and pushed his child to safety.

Of course, no one will never know whether he or she could do something like that until the choice is presented.

And yet, heroism is not as rare as we might think. The American marines who rushed an armed terrorist on a train were only the latest in a long list of people in the wrong place at the wrong time and chose to spend what might have been the last seconds of their relatively young lives saving the lives of strangers.

Yes, in nearly every terror attack where the opportunity to save others was present, somebody took it and most of them died.

The fact that life can end in a heartbeat makes it more precious than anything we can ever own. So what do you plan to do with the balance of your most precious asset? Have an affair?

CLT

Category: News Commentary
Tags: heroism > last moments of life

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Welcome

CLIFF TUTTLE has been a Pennsylvania lawyer for over 45 years and (inter alia) is a real estate litigator and legal writer. The posts in this blog are intended to provide general information about legal topics of interest to lawyers and consumers with a Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania focus. However, this information does not constitute legal advice and there is no lawyer-client relationship created when you read this blog. You are encouraged to leave comments but be aware that posted comments can be read by others. If you wish to contact me in privacy, please use the Contact Form located immediately below this message. I will reply promptly and in strict confidence.

Pittsburgh Legal Back Talk

Legal topics of interest to lawyers and consumers with a Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania focus.

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Take Two — Did The Scammers Read Blog Post 1,210?

Non-candidate Joe Biden Comes to Town and Sounds Like a Candidate.

Trump’s Art of the Deal Tells a Good Story.

Why Are Scammers Usually So Poor At Proofreading?

A Pox on You, Alex Rios and Kelvin Herrera!

The Labor Day Parade came early this year.

Now that we’ve deposed McKinley, lets rename Mt. Rushmore.

Don’t fall into the trap of interfering with a contract.

Trump’s Soliloquy

Sunday Rumination on the Week’s News

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