The daily life
and times of a litigation lawyer these days in Ireland
is not always full of the cut-and-thrust type litigation I thought I might be
doing when I started studying law – it’s not always “Legally Blonde”, or “The
Good Wife” (I wish!). So when taking a break from the day to day court cases
that cross my desk I started thinking about the “fun” cases we learned about in
law school; the kind of cases that stood out in my memory at least and helped
me to remember some particular points of law that needed to learned.
1 – You must be
sure you’re suing in the right jurisdiction. As a general rule, if you want to
sue a person you have to do it in country or region where they live. So in the
case of Gerald Mayo –v- Satan and His Staff
the claim was rejected by the Court because the Court could not be sure that
the jurisdiction was correct. Also, the Court queried how the papers were going
to be served on Satan in the proper manner. Incidentally, the outcome was the
same in the case of Chambers –v- God.
2 – In contract
law, for there to be a valid contract an offer must be made which is capable of
being accepted. In Leonard v Pepsico
the Plaintiff sued Pepsi following a particular ad campaign. Pepsi ran a
promotional offer where if you collected various numbers of points you could
redeem them for different items. The end of the ad saw a Harrier jump jet
flying overhead, with the message on-screen “Harrier Fighter 7,000,000 Pepsi
Points”. The terms of the promotion also stated that you could redeem gifts for
either the points, or pay $0.10 per point. Mr. Leonard sent Pepsi 15 Pepsi
points and a cheque for €700,008.50 (to include a $10.00 shipping fee). The
Court, in New York in 1999, held
that the ad did not constitute an offer; that no reasonable person would have
considered that portion of the ad to have been an offer; and that it was
clearly a joke.
3 – If you’re
writing a handbook for an “automatic” motor home / camper van make sure you
state clearly that it must be driven at all times by a human being. Winnebago
were sued in the US
after a man bought a Winnebago motor home, set off on a trip on the freeway,
set the cruise control to 70 mph and went in the back to make himself some
coffee. The man claimed that the handbook never said that he shouldn’t have
done this. Somewhat unbelievably he won his case (and the Winnebago company
changed their handbook).
More law school
musings may follow – you’ve been warned!
Maria O’ Donovan, Associate Solicitor
Wolfe & Co., Market Street, Skibbereen,
Co. Cork
