Judge Demeans Himself: Composes Legal Limerick

For some reason, my co-blogger Meredith Miller thinks I ought to be the one to blog about an opinion recently issued by Judge Berle M. Schiller of the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia.  The full report on the case is available for subscribers to the New York Lawyer here.  The rest of you will have to do with my synopsis of the report.

The case, Sullivan v. Limerick Golf Club Inc., involved a brawl at the Golf Club’s bar, the Sand Trap.  Plaintiff Sullivan alleged that the club was liable because it served his alleged assailant drinks after the latter was already visibly intoxicated.  The club tardily moved to implead the allaged assailant in violation of F.R.C.P. 14, leading the Judge to quip:

“Unfortunately for Limerick, their sub-par performance occurred in the pleading stage of this case and not on the golf course.”  Already drunk with his own wit, the judge then summarized his holding as follows:

With arguments hard to resist,
The movant correctly insists,
His joinder was tardy,
And so the third-party
Complaint is hereby dismissed.

In my view, this opinion sets a bad precedent.

[Jeremy Telman]