Obligations enforceable without a bargained-for exchange - Next Generation Bar Exam

1. What is the status of a promise to perform a duty that the promisor could avoid, such as a contract made during minority?

   It is binding without new consideration. A ratifying promise affirms a voidable duty rather than creating a new obligation.

2. An employer promises a long-time employee a lifetime pension of $500 a month, and she retires in reliance. On what basis may she enforce the promise?

   Promissory estoppel. Retirement in foreseeable reliance on the promise makes enforcement necessary to avoid injustice.

3. Under the Restatement (Second), which two kinds of promises are binding without proof of reliance?

   Charitable subscriptions and marriage settlements. Section 90(2) dispenses with the reliance requirement for these promises.

4. Under the Restatement (Second) material-benefit rule, when is a promise made in recognition of a benefit previously received binding?

   To the extent necessary to prevent injustice. Section 86 departs from the traditional rule that past consideration cannot support a promise.

5. When does a subcontractor's bid become binding before the general contractor accepts it?

   When the subcontractor should expect, and the general contractor does make, substantial reliance by using the bid. Section 87(2) treats the bid as an option contract to the extent needed to avoid injustice.

6. A worker is permanently injured diverting a falling block to save his employer's life. The employer later promises him lifetime payments. On what basis is the promise enforceable?

   The material-benefit rule. The employer received a substantial benefit and promised payment in recognition of it.

7. What are the elements of promissory estoppel under the Restatement (Second)?

   A promise the promisor should expect to induce reliance, actual reliance, and injustice avoidable only by enforcement. The reliance must be of the kind the promisor should reasonably have expected.

8. When does the material-benefit rule not make a promise binding?

   When the benefit was a gift, the promisor was not unjustly enriched, or the promise is disproportionate to the benefit. These limits keep the rule from enforcing purely gratuitous promises.

9. What is the status of a new promise to pay a debt barred by the statute of limitations?

   It is enforceable without new consideration, usually only if in writing. The promise revives the debt on the terms of the new promise.

10. Under the Restatement (Second), how may a court limit the remedy for a promise enforced by promissory estoppel?

    To what justice requires, often reliance damages rather than full expectation. Courts tailor relief to the reliance that made enforcement necessary.

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