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Anti-Beer-Pong Law Defeated by Furious Citizens

“We’re getting inundated with so many e-mails that I don’t have the time to fool with it,” said Maryland state senator George Della Jr. (D-Baltimore).  He was explaining why he had withdrawn Senate Bill 233, a bill he introduced that…


Florida Driver Cited For Speeding, 49 Or So Other Violations

Laying a claim to the title of World's Worst Driver, or maybe just Least Likely to Be Allowed to Ever Drive Again, 46-year-old Elvis Barrett racked up approximately 50 traffic citations in a brief period on the morning of February 5. …


Man Cited for “Riding White Horse in a Snowstorm”

I put that in quotes only because it sounded to me like some kind of drug-related slang term, but in fact it was exactly what it describes. Police in Cody, Wyoming, said they cited a 28-year-old man on Sunday for public…


2008 Lowering the Bar Awards

Now that 2008 is over, we can finally close the books on it and maybe try to evaluate some of the nonsense spawned during it. The following are my selections for those people and/or events that may have Lowered the Bar the…


Batman Reportedly Planning to File Bat-Complaint

Variety Magazine reported last month that the mayor of Batman, a city in southeastern Turkey, is preparing a lawsuit against Warner Bros. and Christopher Nolan, the director of the two most recent "Batman" movies.  The mayor alleges that the filmmakers…


D.C. Court Hears Argument in Appeal of Pants Case

Roy Pearson Jr., who is on the verge of getting his own category here, was in the D.C. Court of Appeals on October 22 to argue for the reinstatement of his $54-million lawsuit against the dry cleaners who he says lost…



San Francisco Superior Court Is Victim of Hit-and-Run

Legal Pad reported yesterday that officials at SF Superior Court are trying to figure out who has to pay for damage to the courthouse apparently caused by a hit-and-run driver earlier this month. Trust me, there is no point in…


If Great Literary Works Had Been Written by Lawyers

These essays were written and published in 1999 and 2000 respectively.  They appeared in the law journal The Green Bag, and led to a writeup in the Wall Street Journal and a couple of appearances by yours truly on National…