LOVE THOSE LAWYERS 5-17-08

"Laws are like spiders' webs: if some light or powerless thing falls into them, it is caught, but a bigger one can break through and get away." - SOLON, quoted by Diogenes Laertius in Lives of the Philosophers

LAWYER INVADES SPACE!

"A student at the University of Mississippi will leap into the final frontier of the legal system Saturday when he receives the first-ever space law certificate in the United States.
Michael Dodge of Long Beach, Miss., earned the special distinction... through the National Center for Remote Sensing, Air and Space Law at the university's law school.
Any future space lawyer might have to deal with issues ranging from the fallout over satellite shoot-downs to legal disputes between astronauts onboard the International Space Station…"
Space.com, May 8, 2008

The step from international cooperation to interplanetary cooperation is not very far away. Maybe it is about time that mankind learned interpersonal cooperation. - 2q(Jim)

"If you laid all of the lawyers in the world, end to end, on the equator ---- It would be a good idea to just leave them there." - Common Wisdom

WHAT GOES 'ROUND, COMES 'ROUND

A Charlotte, NC, lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars, then insured them against fire among other things. Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of these great cigars and without yet having made even his first premium payment on the policy, the lawyer filed claim against the insurance company.

In his claim, the lawyer stated the cigars were lost "in a series of small fires." The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason: that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion.

The lawyer sued…AND WON!

In delivering the ruling the judge agreed with the insurance company that the claim was frivolous. The judge stated, nevertheless, that the lawyer held a policy from the company in which it warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure them against fire, without defining what is considered to be unacceptable fire, and was obliged to pay the claim.

Rather than endure a lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000.00 to the lawyer for his loss of the rare cigars in the "fires."

NOW FOR THE BEST PART… After the lawyer cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of ARSON!!!

With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used against him, the lawyer was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and was sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000.00 fine. - submitted by Brenda Reiner, Peoria, AZ

Does anyone know if Billy Clinton ever practiced law in North Carolina? - 2q(Jim)

FORTUNES LOST

A wealthy lawyer came home from a gambling trip and told his wife that he had lost their entire fortune and that they'd have to drastically alter their life-style. If you'll just learn to cook, he said, "we can fire the chef."

Okay, she said. "And if you learn how to make love, we can fire the gardener."