Hit & Run May 31st: New Nibbles from the Legal Cowpie

Spanish Pleas: In Spain, where it is illegal to use a cell phone while driving, a cop stopped a motorist driving along with one hand held to his ear. Despite the driver's demonstration that he didn't have the phone in his hand, and that it hadn't been in use for the last 12 hours, the cop still wrote him a ticket. The citation was for "holding his ear with his right hand in a prominent manner."

The driver, a lawyer, appealed the ticket, arguing that Spanish law does not prohibit scratching one's ear while driving. He won the case.

Illegal Jargon: Legal documents contain their own version of the Mother Tongue, but sometimes even lawyers need help translating what their secretaries type. In one legal memo, the typist rendered "search and siezure" as surgeon seizure. In another, the word "paratrooper" became parrot trooper.

Polly want a hand grenade?

Moot Court A man in Santa Fe, NM, is suing his wife in federal court to stop smoking, after years of trying other methods to get her to kick the habit. The premise of his lawsuit? Air Pollution. He's suing her under the Federal Clean Air Act.

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