a law student blog ::fighting the hypo, so you don’t have to ::
’Ritche” by Bill Owens from his photo essay “Suburbia.” (1973)
While the Sherpa is knocking back cabernet in Napa, and I’m golfing my brains out, we thought we would let all of you get your creative juices flowing. Let us know what “Ritche” is thinking. We’ll reveal his monther’s thoughts and pass out prizes on Monday. Happy 4th!
A tip of the hat to The Commissioner, who brought to my attention that today the Supreme Court, got one right. Specifically, they declined to hear without comment Major League Baseball’s appeal of a November ruling from the 8th Circuit stating that the 1st Amendment trumped baseball’s right to rob us.
From 1994 through the end of 2004, C.B.C. Distribution and Marketing Inc. (which runs this website) had a license from MLB to run a fantasy site. Following the expiration of the Collective Bargaining Agreement in 2005, the Player’s Association licensed to a shadowy organization called Major League Baseball Advanced Media, L.P. the exclusive right to use the player’s likenesses and stats “for exploitation via all interactive media.” Continue reading ‘CKBL 1, MLB 0.’
Mrs. Bombay and I were at a cocktail party yesterday for a dear friend of ours who was just named to the directorship of high powered organization here in town. While there, I met his daughter, who is going to be matriculating at the University of Arizona’s James E. Rodgers College of Law to study Native American law. The entire Hypo Staff wishes her the best on her journey.
The conversation obviously swerved towards the first year experience, and some of the same consideration we’ve voiced here. Specifically, about the cost of attendance, and how law school debt can force you to make career choices that you might otherwise avoid. She said she selected Arizona not only because of its preeminence in the field of Native American and indigenous people’s law, but also because the cost was such that she didn’t have to worry about the debt affecting her career choices. Continue reading ‘Best Party Ever.’
While looking through Black’s Law Dictionary, Third Pocket Edition today, I found the best page in the history of dictionaries. Page 545 containes definitions for “polyandry”, “polygamy”, “polygraph”, “polygyny” (similary to bigamy), “Ponzi Scheme”, “pork-barrel legislation”, and “pornography.”
You could not put together a more hillarious combination of words if you tried.
Need a break from outlining?
Head on over to PrawfsBlog and vote on the Most Screwed Victim in Caselaw History.
I voted for Peevyhouse. Who did you vote for?
We here at Fight The Hypo are on the cutting edge of legal reform, committed as we are to justice, freedom, and the rule of law. Here’s an example of our innovative and forward-looking thinking for dealing with the critical challenges facing our legal system.
Replace the obscure, outdated Latin phrase “res ipsa loquitur” with the more modern English phrase “it is what it is.”
Granted, I have just learned what “res ipsa loquitur” means. So, while I may have less experience than more seasoned attorneys, what I’m asking for here is a vote for change we can all believe in. And while the common law’s currency is experience, in this case, experience is merely a millstone dragging the law into the depths of confusion.
If I had been there when they chose the phrase, I would have voted differently. In fact, I was always against granting judges the blanket authority to invent Latin phrases. I could have told them it was a losing cause and a dying language. But we have to look forward, not back. So, here’s my case for why centuries of common law parlance must yield to new realities we face.
Continue reading ‘The Case For A New Res Ipsa Loquitur: “It Is What It Is”’
I was going to call this the “Friday Fight The Hypo Award” but who has time to award something every week?
So our first official and illustrious “Every Now and Then Award For Fighting the Hypo” goes to, Mommy on the Floor.
She writes:
I was on call for Torts. The professor kept asking if I had a duty of care in certain situations. If I am a homeowner, do I need to try and rescue a trespasser who has fallen in quicksand? What about a bear trap? I wasn’t really sure so I was hemming and hawing. A few weeks ago, he had talked about sea captains and how they have a duty of care to the crew because he is pretty much the only one who can rescue them. Apparently, this is analogous to being a homeowner. He said, you have a duty of care because its like you are a sea captain.
So I am typing along and my friend who sits next to me starts to laugh. She points at my screen. I had written,
“If someone gets caught in a bear trap, you have to help them because you are the sea captain.”
When will this stop being funny? It just made me realize how ridiculous these hypos are. Am I going to be defending sea captains? Are we plagued with bears and everyone is running out and planting traps?
But I promise you, if you fall into quick sand on my property, I will help you. I have too, because I am the sea captain. Aye Matey!
Fight on, Mommy. Fight on!
(H/T to Divine Angst for the heads up on this post; check out the law school roundup that she and Evan Schaeffer put together each week)
