On Sun, 08 Jul 2007 08:44:34 -0400, Stan Horwitz >
rummaged among random neurons and opined:

>Terry, being as though your husband and you both work in the legal
>profession, I am surprised you would make the comment in your first
>paragraph. We all know that in the USA, anyone can sue anyone for any
>reason, even for meritless reasons.

No, I'm not being naive, Stan, I just get worn out sometimes by the
idiocy I see in my work week. And there are laws against frivolous
lawsuits and "vexatious" litigants. I just wish they were more
strenuously applied. I blame much of the frivolous lawsuits on
contingency fees and avaricious lawyers.

<snip>

>The restaurant owner feels that if LaBan had reviewed the meal from the
>perspective of eating a sandwich, not a full fledged steak, his review
>would have been better because his expectations of the meal would have
>been different.
>
>Ironically, the plaintiff is not disputing that the steak was chewy and
>fatty; his complaint is that it is supposed to be that way because it
>was on a sandwich, which LaBan says is strange because no bread was
>served on the plate with the steak.

And LaBan was supposed to eat imaginary bread with this steak
"sandwich"? And if I'm served a "chewy and fatty" steak sandwich, I'd
be plenny unhappy, too, Loosey.
>
>The reason this got onto your radar screen isn't so much that the law
>suit took place; its that the deposition is on video tape. LaBan and his
>attorneys wanted to avoid taping the deposition because they fear the
>tape will become public and LaBan's anonymity will be lost. LaBan claims
>that without his ability to go into a restaurant without being
>recognized, his job will be over because he will be treated better than
>if he would, were he anonymous.

Any lawyer worth his pinstripes would be able to make a motion to have
the videotape *lodged* with the court or a motion in limine to have it
kept out, which means it's not in the public forum for anyone to just
waltz in to the clerk's office/videographer's office and request a
copy. And I rather doubt that LaBan's mug isn't common knowledge among
restaurateurs, anyway. If you have an upscale Manhattan eatery, for
instance, you'd have gotten your hands on a photo of the guy and had
it posted at the maitre d's station <g>

Terry "Squeaks" Pulliam Burd

--
"If the soup had been as hot as the claret, if the claret had been as
old as the bird, and if the bird's breasts had been as full as the
waitress's, it would have been a very good dinner."

-- Duncan Hines

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