The Validity of a Blood Promise

CATEGORY: Blood Pact, Business Contract

DIVISION: Modern Evil, Legal

NOTE: Whether signed in blood, sweat, tears, ink or any other marking fluid, a contract is a contract. We encourage the plantiff in this case to contact us as soon as possible for further legal recourse.

Judge: Blood Promise Can't Be Enforced

Tue Jun 26, 4:46 PM ET

SANTA ANA, Calif. - A Nietzsche-quoting judge said a promise penned in blood by a businessman was not an enforceable contract. Superior Court Judge Corey S. Cramin ruled Monday that Stephen Son could not be forced to repay Kim Jin-soo more than $140,000 that Kim provided to Son's companies, not to Son himself.

Son punctured his finger and drafted the promise in a restaurant after his companies accepted cash from Kim but failed to turn a profit.

Son was not required to guarantee those transactions, the judge said.

"Blood is the worst of all testimonies to the truth," Cramin said, paraphrasing German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.

Kim's attorney, Richard Radcliffe, said his client might appeal.

"We think the blood speaks for itself," he said.

The lawsuit and purported contract dealt with more than $100,000 that Kim invested in a company run by Son in April 2003, when the two lived in Korea.

Later, Kim lent $40,000 to a second Son company in California.

The blood promise was written in October 2004 after the two men had moved to California

It read, "Sir, forgive me. Because of my deeds, you have suffered financially. I will repay you to the best of my ability," according to court filings.

Kim sued in January 2006.