Enron Mail

From:legal <.taylor@enron.com<
To:justin.boyd@enron.com, ian.brungs@enron.com
Subject:RE: EOL
Cc:tana.jones@enron.com, n..gray@enron.com
Bcc:tana.jones@enron.com, n..gray@enron.com
Date:Wed, 26 Sep 2001 08:17:19 -0700 (PDT)

Thanks for your note. Just so you have the whole picture -- our analysis f=
rom a US law perspective is that there is a tension between wanting the tra=
nsactions on the system to be enforceable and wanting out of the mistake tr=
ades. The offline unwind is by far the best approach when the mistake is n=
ot blatant since it assumes the binding nature of the original trade. We h=
ave been handling these by using a written termination rather than a revers=
e trade. This is universally the approach we have taken when our traders h=
ave agreed to let a customer out of a trade the customer claims was done by=
mistake on their part. This happens often enough that we have given the c=
onfirm desk a termination agreement form to use as needed (Tana can get you=
a copy if you want it). But when the counterparty refuses to let us out o=
f a trade that is a mistake on our part, our only hope is that the mistake =
is so blatant that we can claim mutual mistake. Under US law when there is=
mutual mistake the contract is actually never formed. In that case, the o=
riginal trade is not enforceable and there is nothing to unwind. One alter=
native we have used is to simply remove the transaction from the customer's=
"completed transactions" section as if it had never happened. As far as I=
know, we have only had to do this once or twice.

-----Original Message-----
From: =09Boyd, Justin =20
Sent:=09Wednesday, September 26, 2001 8:55 AM
To:=09Taylor, Mark E (Legal)
Subject:=09EOL

Mark

We do have mistakes from time to time, as you suspected. In almost all cas=
es, the respective traders agree to cancel these by entering into a back to=
back offline trade. None has been of sufficiemt gravity to be brought to =
my attention

J