The Law has a sense of humour – honest !

April Fools Day is almost upon us and as tempting as it is to prank our Blog, I think that April Fools jokes are probably best left to my personal, rather than professional life (my family is hereby on notice of potential pranks and warned that any pranks played on the writer of this blog will be met with harsh retribution).

 That being said, I would hate for any of our blog readers to think that lawyers and for that matter, Judges are without humour, and to that end, I recommend your read the decision of The Honourable Justice J.W. Quinn in Miller v. Carley – you can find it here: http://canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2009/2009canlii39065/2009canlii39065.html

Appreciating that many of you don’t have the time to scan through the 218 paragraph decision, allow me to point out a few highlights that make this decision “entertaining”.  These are taken directly from the text of the Judgment:

INTRODUCTION

[1] After a busy day conducting illegal drug transactions, the plaintiff, the defendant and a mutual friend stopped at a corner store where the defendant purchased some “scratch” lottery tickets. One of the tickets proved to be a $5-million winner.

[2] The parties dispute ownership of the winning ticket. If the ticket were a child and the parties vying for custody, I would find them both unfit and bring in Family and Children’s Services.

Later in the case, perhaps, my favourite quote from a decision, ever, is:

 [151] When confronted with this discrepancy in his evidence, the plaintiff stated, “I have a really bad memory, really, really, really.”[33]

 [33] It is difficult to win a lawsuit with an admission like that one.

 In case you’re wondering, the plaintiff went on to lose the case, the Judge not believing that he had paid for ½ of the lottery ticket that lead to the $ 5-million dollar win.

 Trusting this has convinced at least some of you, the law is not as completely dry & dour as many believe.

Inga B. Andriessen Sr. Lawyer