Canadian Lawyer

www.lawtimesnews.com 33 BIZARRE BRIEFS Judge asked to allow sword battle If a litigant had his way, his former wife and her lawyer would fight him with Japanese samurai swords. That was the request of a Kansas man before an Iowa judge, accord- ing to the Associated Press. The former wife's lawyers said that, "because a duel could end in death, 'such ramifications likely outweigh those of property tax and custody issues.'" The judge did not issue a decision, citing lack of proper procedure with the motion and response. SCOTUS judges say: 'OK, boomer' Chief Justice John Roberts of the U.S. Supreme Court employed a recent internet meme during the argument of an age bias case, the New York Times reported. During the debate, which centred on what federal workers must show to prove age discrimination, Roberts asked whether a supervisor's use of the phrase "OK, boomer" would count, the Times said. If the "but for" standard were relaxed to make OK, boomer actionable, Roberts wondered if it could lead to regula- tion of speech in the workplace, the Times reported of the allegations. Man smokes cannabis in courtroom A Tennessee man brought to court for a simple drug possession charge now faces a disorderly conduct allegation after lighting a "marijuana cigarette" before a judge, the Associated Press said. When approaching the bench to discuss his sentence, the accused launched into his views on legal- izing marijuana. He "reached in his pocket, pulled out a marijuana cigarette, lit it, smoked it and was immediately taken into custody," the AP reported. Sheriff's Office Lt. Scott Moore told the AP that the courtroom crowd chuckled. It was unclear whether it was a joint or blunt, said the report. Lawyer accepted cocaine as payment, report alleges A Nebraska lawyer "admitted to accepting cocaine as payment for providing legal services," a local news network reported, citing information from the Associated Press. The public defender was outed by an informant over an ounce of cocaine and has been charged with a felony, possession of cocaine with intent to deliver. Student loans a factor in denying Ohio bar admission A woman with $300,000 in stu- dent loan debt was denied ad- mission to the Ontario bar, in part because she "openly neglected financial responsibilities and knowingly incurred a substantial amount of student loan debt that she admits will probably never be repaid." The lawyer hopeful is mar- ried to a man with even more debt, and combined, the pair owes nearly US$900,000, reported Forbes. The board also noted that the aspiring lawyer had filed "nearly 60 civil lawsuits during the course of her lifetime, many of them frivolous," among other factors, Forbes said. Did lawyer kill fox with baseball bat? "Already this morning I have killed a fox with a baseball bat. How's your Boxing Day going?" tweeted a prominent U.K. lawyer who is now being investigated, according to the New York Post. The Post re- ported that the lawyer claimed he jumped into action "while wearing his wife's too-small kimono and suffering from a hangover," be- cause he saw the chickens in his coop were "distressed" by the fox's presence. "Wasn't a great deal of fun," the lawyer reportedly wrote. "Got caught up in the protective netting around the chickens and I wasn't sure what else to do. Not looking forward to untangling it." Caught billing more than 24 hours per day, lawyer runs away A West Virginia lawyer was appre- hended in Nicaragua and indicted on charges of fraudulent pretens- es and computer fraud, reported ABA Journal, citing local media. The lawyer, who has been miss- ing since 2016, billed more than US$600,000 for indigent defence work during a two-year period and billed the state for more than 24 hours per day on at least 17 days, the ABA Journal reported. Being 'muted' in video game not a human rights violation A video gamer cannot sue a game developer for "rendering him unable to communicate with other players," Vice News reported. The Pennsylvania federal court dis- missed the gamer's allegations that there was a violation of due process of free speech, deciding that the gamer's allegations did not raise any grounds of discrim- ination. Vice News noted that the litigant has filed several other law- suits on various topics, including an unsuccessful class action claim that dating app Tinder uses fake profiles to entice users to subscribe.

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