The Newest ADR Model: Rock, Paper, Scissors
Fed up with some wrangling lawyers, Federal District Judge Gregory A. Presnell (M.D. Fla.) came up with a novel dispute resolution procedure: the game of "rock, paper, scissors. "In what Judge Presnell called "the latest in a series of Gordian knots that the parties have been unable to untangle" without court assistance, the parties were unable to agree on a location for a deposition. The judge directed the lawyers to convene at a neutral site, and if they couldn't agree on even that much, to meet on the steps of the federal courthouse.
He further instructed that:
Each lawyer shall be entitled to be accompanied by one paralegal who shall act as an attendant and witness. At that time and location, counsel shall engage in one (1) game of "rock, paper, scissors." The winner of this engagement shall be entitled to select the location for the 30(b)(6) deposition.
Actually, rock, paper, scissors resolutions are anything but novel. Although there are competing theories of the origin of the game, according to Wikipedia, it was invented in China during the Ming dynasty, where warlords allegedly played a similar contest called shoushiling, which can be translated to "hand-command." The warloads used the game to decide, among other things, where depositions would be held and whose head would get cut off.So who won? It might not matter. Rumor has it there will be an appeal that will be decided by eeny, meeny, miny, moe.
— Avista Management, Inc. v. Wausau Underwriters Ins. Co., Case No. 6:05-cv-1430-Orl-31JGG, M.D. Fla., June 6, 2006 (Presnell, J.).
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1 comment:
While I would not want a case that I was a party to decided in this manner, it certainly has a way of creating an awareness.
Some cases get simply ridiculous; remember the lawyer in DC that sued a dry cleaner for millions?
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