In 1988, the Upper Deck Company was a company with an idea for a better baseball card: one that had a hologram on it. By the 1990s, the firm was a major corporation worth at least a quarter of a billion dollars.
In 1988, however, its outlook hadn’t been so bright. Upper Deck lacked the funds for a $100,000 deposit it needed to buy some special paper by August 1. Without that deposit, its contract with the Major League Baseball Players Association would have been jeopardized.
Upper Deck’s corporate attorney, Anthony Passante, Jr., loaned the company the money. That evening, the directors of the company accepted the loan and, in gratitude, agreed to give Passante 3 percent of the firm’s stock. Passante never sought to collect the stock, and later the company reneged on its promise. Passante sued for breach of oral contract.1 

1. If you were on the jury, how would you decide the case? Was the offer of 3 percent of the firm’s stock legal consideration for the loan? Or was it a mere gift?
2. Does Upper Deck have a moral obligation to give Passante the stock? If so, is this obligation legally enforceable?