Also known as: rewards · rewarded · rewarding · bounty · prize
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A payment or benefit of value conferred in return for a service or achievement. The conferral creates an expectation of compensation tied to the performance of the requested act or the supply of information leading to a specific outcome.
Roland Rhodes drafted a will leaving his estate to his niece after she located a long-lost family heirloom. The niece performed the search and recovered the item. A court later assessed whether Roland possessed the required understanding of his property and the disposition when he executed the document containing the reward promise.
Rowan Russell, a junior mortgagee, obtained a receiver who collected rents from the mortgaged office building. The receiver first paid taxes and maintenance costs from those rents. The excess was then applied toward the junior obligation as compensation for the diligent pursuit of the receivership.
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Rosa Ruiz owned land in State A but lived in State B. State A law limited the period during which alienation of land could be suspended. A court weighed the purpose of that rule and the states' respective relations to the land and parties when deciding whether to apply State A's restriction to a reward offered for locating a buyer.
Renee Rogers held a power of appointment and attempted to exercise it in favor of a creditor who had advanced funds. Although the formal requisites were not fully met, a court applying equitable principles upheld the appointment because the appointee was a creditor and the exercise approximated the donor's prescribed manner.
Raphael Rivera sued a company after an earlier SEC action had established certain facts. The court considered whether allowing offensive collateral estoppel would reward a plaintiff who could have joined the prior proceeding, ultimately declining to apply the doctrine because of fairness concerns.
Rosalind Reed challenged a federal statute that offered rewards for information leading to gun recoveries near schools. The Court examined whether Congress possessed authority under the Commerce Clause to enact the reward provision as part of a broader regulatory scheme.
A lawyer may compensate a witness for time and expenses but may not offer a payment or benefit contingent on the content of testimony or the outcome of the case. Such a contingent reward constitutes an improper inducement that subjects the lawyer to discipline.
A promise made in recognition of a benefit previously received may be binding to the extent necessary to prevent injustice. Enforcement is limited when the benefit was conferred as a gift or when the promised amount is disproportionate to the value received.
Taking goods with intent to return them and only hoping for a reward does not amount to larceny. Taking goods with no intent to return them unless assured of a reward creates a substantial risk of loss and therefore constitutes larceny.
…an effective means of revealing the type of political support that is sometimes coupled with expectations of special favors or rewards. That disclosure impinges on First Amendment rights is conceded by the Court, ante , at 64-66, but given the objectives to which disclosure is directed, I agree that the need for…