Excuse me for interrupting the nonstop fixation on AI, but I feel compelled to report another front in the efforts wars.
It took me 20+ years to get around to it, but on a whim I searched on EDGAR for obligations to use material efforts. They don’t occur much, but it’s a thing. Here are five examples:
I’m particularly fond of the combo versions (material and substantial; material and reasonable; material best).
Until such time as material efforts attracts more attention, I’m unwilling to go into it in any detail. But it seems mischievous. How does it relate to the reasonableness standard that applies to more conventional efforts provisions? And of course, there’s the small matter of material being ambiguous. Which meaning is intended, nontrivial or dealbreaker? (See my 2023 article about that.)
(By the way, if you’re under the illusion that the notion of a hierarchy of efforts provisions is real and is a good thing, read my 2019 article about that and seek medical attention.)
