"Our lives teach us who we are." ~ Salman Rushdie
Stories from the "People's Court"
(General Sessions Civil Court)page 1 2 3 4 5
From Sam Fowler, Esq.
(Originally written for DICTA, the newsletter of the Knoxville Bar Association)
Noah's Ark by Edward Hicks
Noah's FloodThis story is aimed at you lawyers who have a client who is climbing the walls over a $250 grievance or if you know your client won't win if he/she goes to court. Call the Community Mediation Center at 594-1879 first to see if the problem can be mediated without filing suit. If they agree to handle it, CMC will call or you can call the other party or parties and see if they will agree to mediate without the benefit and expense of lawyers.
In this matter, the facts were not in dispute.
Arthur and Bud lived across the street from each other. Leaves from the woods on the hill behind Bud's house would wash down and clog up the culvert under his driveway. When the culvert clogged, the water would flow across the street into Arthur's yard. Arthur and his wife lived in an immaculate little white house and the front yard they worked in constantly was their pride and joy. Bud never cleaned his culvert. God then sent a rain that both agreed was just short of Noah's flood. With the culvert stopped up, it wiped out the front 10 feet of Arthur's yard. Arthur sued for $2,500 which was the price he was quoted to clean up and re-sod.t.
Bud was outraged at the suit. He couldn't be blamed for what God did.
The mediation started slowly because it was clear that Bud and Mrs. Bud were not going to admit anything if they were going to be responsible for acts of God forever in the future.
In this photograph, it looks like the culvert is on the county right-of-way. Has anybody called the county? Yes, Arthur had. The county was willing to clean the culvert out only if someone called them. Congratulations, we had our first agreement. Both agreed to check the culvert regularly and if clogged to call the county. Bud was not liable for future floods. The Buds were now ready to talk turkey.
After a number of different proposals to settle the matter were discussed, a final agreement provided that Bud and his teenage boys would immediately clean the rock and gravel out of Arthur's yard and in the fall which was several months away reseed and fertilize at his expense. In return, Arthur agreed to dismiss the suit without prejudice and to pay all court costs. If Arthur was not satisfied with Bud's work next fall, he could bring a suit on the contract or start the present suit over.
If you have a client with a grievance on which the judge cannot give full relief or the expense of trying it is more than the case is worth, you may change a frustrated client into a happy one by seeing if it can be mediated without charge through CMC. This service can be a real boon to Knoxville lawyers looking for a graceful way to dispose of dog cases in your office. It is a better solution than George Montgomery's practice of referring all sex cases to Ray Jenkins because ?he was the imminent authority on sex in Tennessee.?
community mediation center :: 912 South Gay Street :: Suite L300 :: Knoxville, TN 37902 :: P865.594.1879 :: F865.594.1890 :: info@2mediate.org