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"Buffalo
Bob" |
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The beauty of a language and the art of constructing the words
of the language significantly lead to their meaning. This
is not a case of twisting, but of the refined manner of
presentation by witty minds.
A good case for reference - Lawyers! One evening, after attending the theater,
two gentlemen were walking down the avenue when they observed a
rather well dressed and attractive young lady walking ahead of them.
One of them turned to the other and remarked, "I'd give
$250 to spend the night with that woman."Much to their surprise,
the young lady overheard their remark, turned around, and replied, "I'll take you up on that
offer."She had a neat appearance and a pleasant voice, so after
bidding his companion good night, the man accompanied the young lady to
her apartment. The following morning,
as he prepared to leave, the man gave her $125. She demanded the rest of
the money, stating, "If you don't give me the other $125 I'll sue
you for it." He laughed, saying "I'd like to see you get
it on these grounds."Within a few days, he was surprised when he
received a summons ordering his presence in court as a defendant in a lawsuit. He hurried to his lawyer and explained the details
of the case. His lawyer said, "She can't possibly get a
judgment against you on such grounds, but it will be interesting to see
how her case will be presented." After the usual preliminaries,
the lady's Lawyer addressed the court as follows: "Your
honor, my client, this lady, is the owner of a
piece of property, a garden spot, surrounded by a profuse growth
of shrubbery, which property she agreed to rent to the defendant for a specified
length of time for the sum of $250.The defendant took possession of the property,
used it extensively for the purposes of which
it was rented, but upon evacuating the premises, he paid only $125,
one-half of the amount agreed upon. The rent was not excessive, since it
is restricted property, and we ask
judgment be granted against the defendant to assure payment of the balance." The defendant's Lawyer was not only surprised but also impressed and amused by the way his
opponent had presented the case. Naturally, his defense was
somewhat different from the way he originally planned to present it.
He rose to the occasion! 'Your honor," he said, "My client agrees that the lady
has a fine piece of property, that he did rent such property for a time,
and a degree of pleasure was derived from the transaction. However,
my client found a well on the property around which he placed his
own stones, sunk a shaft, and erected a pump, all labor performed
personally by him. We claim these improvements to the property
were sufficient to offset the unpaid amount, and that the plaintiff was
adequately compensated for the rental of said property. We, therefore, ask that judgment not be granted. "The young lady's lawyer answered,
"Your honor, my client agrees that the defendant did find a well on
her property. However, had the
defendant not known that the well existed, he would never have rented
the property. Also, upon evacuating the premises, the defendant
removed the stones, pulled out the shaft, and took the pump with him. In doing so, he not only dragged the equipment through the shrubbery
but left the hole much larger than it was prior to his occupancy,
making the property much less desirable to others. We,
therefore, ask that judgment be granted." In the Judge's decision, he provided for two options: "Pay the balance $125 to
the plaintiff, or have the equipment detached from its current location
and provide it to the plaintiff for damages."The defendant wrote
out a check immediately. |