Diamond cutters are independent contractors and are often paid by the stone. Consequently, after contracting to purchase a piece of rough, a dealer will contract with a cutter. If he does not obtain the stone and does not have other work for the cutter to do, he will still have to pay the cutter. Furthermore, unlike many commercial contexts, at the time a diamond contract is made, the promisee typically is unable to estimate what is reliance expenditures will be; they will depend largely on the subsequent business opportunities that present themselves to the promisee.

DEFINE: Illustrates the concept of reliance expenditures that cannot be estimated at contract formation, using the diamond trade as a concrete example.

Lisa Bernestein, Opting out of the Legal Sys…, loc. 228