Jackson lawyers, however, argue he had been already working for two months based on an oral contract.

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By publishing several articles naming Steele and telling her story and by naming her in TV interviews, the defendants broke "an express oral contract, " the complaint says.

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Another case, set to go to trial in Las Vegas in early 2009, alleges an oral contract promised three fixers 5% of the Macau operations for helping find a license partner.

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The contract may be oral, or it may be written in the local language and signed by the chief.

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