It’s FINALLY OVER

Yes, I know that I’m violating my own hiatus, but it is finally over (save for the application for certiorari). The D.C. Court of Appeals this morning rejected Roy L. Pearson Jr.’s request for a new trial regarding his highly publicized $54 million lawsuit against a neighborhood dry cleaners over a pair of lost pants.

Thus ends one of the saddest and strangest chapters in Modern American jurisprudence.

A Letter to Santa (after legal counsel gets involved).

I received this from a friend and fellow Georgia Tech Bar Association member, Ward Council.   Apparently, he has a rather wealthy young trustifarian client who was concerned about his “gift arrangement” with Santa.  The names have been changed to protect the naughty innocent.

Letter to Santa

Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Night.

Happy Holidays

With one week before Christmas, I am officially going on hiatus.

Enjoy the holiday season.

C

Comment Policy

As you know, this is one of the most least controversial and widely read ignored blogs on the interweb.  I get over ten thousand hits  per day and have to wade through hundreds of a comment or two an hour per year.  Accordingly, I feel it necessary to institute a comment policy, not unlike fellow super-bloggers, Overlawyered, Volokh Conspiracy, Social Services for Feral Children, and Simple Justice.

Here it is:

If I don’t like your comment, I’ll delete it.  If you use the word “dude”, I’ll egg your house.

As I told my friend Cliff, who immediately tested me with an egregious comment the week the site went up:  This is not a democracy. Unless you count China or Russia. In which case, it is.

So, feel free to test me comment away.

Almost Cooked by a Goose.

Courtesy of Overlawyered comes this tale of an abusive lawsuit.  It has everything: small business owners, ridiculous government regulation, and an overreaching plaintiff.

In short, two Canada geese took up residence in a planter located in front of a pool supply store in a strip-mall.  The store owner asked the local authorities to remove the geese, but was told they were protected by federal law.  During their federally protected roost, they attacked a passer-by, who, of course, sued.

I’ll let you watch to find out what happened.  A video will play when you click on the link, but no worries, it is safe for work.

My favorite line comes in around the 1:20 mark of the video,

“The goose was not our employee or our agent.”

As committed as I am to ADR, I am glad there are lawyers out there willing to fight these types of cases.

Been ill.

Apologies for the lack of posts, but I’ve been ill with some sort of head and chest congestion.  I’ve also come down with a bout of lazyitis.*  I’m not much in the mood to read or write about mediation.

I’ve got three more cases scheduled before Christmas, so maybe that will inspire.

*I’ve also finally succumbed to the lure of Facebook, which has consumed a surprisingly inordinate amount of the time I am online.

Poor Economy Affecting Divorcing Couples

The AP has an interesting article about the effect of the economy on divorced couples. I think the title of the article is a bit deceiving, “Couples staying together because of poor economy,” because the people in the article are legally divorced and thus, no longer couples staying together. That would imply some relationship beyond passing each other in the hall and mumbling expletives.

Anyway, the content is quite interesting. Especially the couple who doesn’t speak, except through their lawyers. Apparently, they can afford legal bills necessary to negotiate who gets to do laundry and when, but can’t find money for rent?

Positive Economic News Blog

soapbox

As a follow up to my Thanksgiving post, I wanted to give you the link to the source of much of the information I posted: Positive Economic News.

I know this isn’t an economic blog, but one of the major benefits of mediation is the full and free exchange of information necessary for both sides to make informed decisions. The mainstream media is utterly lacking in this regard.

The major US TV networks lack balance and objectivity on most all issues, including the economy, and do not present a full and free exchange of information.  If you really want to know what is going on, if you want to have all the information necessary to make informed decisions, you need more information than what they are feeding you.

/soapbox