4th Week of Law School

Nothing truly exciting happened last week. I was a bit more fascinated with the potential of having a career in wine law and have been googling and reading about Mendelson who teaches wine law at Boalt. He’s had a very interesting past – he worked at the Wine Institute both during and after law school. Before law school, he also worked in the wine industry. I find it so cool that he knows so much about wine law that he has expanded to land-use planning and even to employment labor since vineyards often employ so many migrant workers. I wonder what other prestigious certifications there are in the wine industry. I’ve often thought about a sommelier license. But I don’t think I’m that interested in the enology aspect. I don’t have the patience for it.

My favorite case of the week is from Torts. We discussed Adams v. Bullock for ages. But basically the story is that in 1919 there was a twelve-year-old kid swinging an 8 foot wire around this bridge area where there was un-insulated wire for the trolley company to run on. The kid’s eight foot wire came in contact with the trolley wire and he got fried. He didn’t die…and the case in the book didn’t say…but he was probably severely injured (which reminds me of Ashton Kutcher in Butterfly effect when all his limbs were exploded off). The court said it wasn’t the defendant’s fault because a trolley line wasn’t supposed to protect society from every extraordinary mishap that could happen (this is the concept we’re supposed to learn – standard of care). Their reasoning was that from the bridge no one can touch the wire…and on the ground anyone standing up couldn’t touch the wire. So…the circumstances in this situation were pretty extreme. Even though I could see how the trolley company shouldn’t be responsible, I felt really bad for the kid. Twelve-year-olds make mistakes all the time, it’s too bad that he had to pay for it the rest of his life. And I guess that is what this case is trying to teach us…that moral obligation is not necessarily legal obligation. I kept wondering about the situation surrounding this case. Was it a class issue? I mean, I could only picture the Charlie-Chaplin-like child roaming around the train tracks playing because his parents were homeless and the kid had nothing to play with. Would the situation have been different if this child was some kid from the judge’s peer group? I’d like to think that these “other” relationships do not matter. And I guess I should assume that the wire is not left from some construction the trolley company engaged in since the case didn’t say so. Otherwise it is the trolley company’s dang fault. Perhaps all judges are just…and it truly is the matter of law. I hate to be so cynical so early in law school. This case makes me wonder if I would “feel bad” for all plaintiffs that are in litigation for their injuries no matter how contributorily negligent they were. I told my dad about this case. He says that the kid’s parents should have warned him of doing these things. Where were the parents? This, though, makes me wonder…because my dad is judging the situation on what he would have warned Eric and me about when we were younger - and not all parents are responsible. It’s funny how one case makes me think for hours about life and all its oddities. LDW says I have a way of saying how everything in life “should” be a particular way. I’m being snobby lately – I feel like if everyone operated by a certain moral code then we wouldn’t all be in such a guessing game all the time (but I shouldn’t pass judgment so quickly, everyone’s upbringing is different – I have to keep reminding myself of this).

Also my favorite memory of the week is driving in the dark with Nicole (not the part where we got pulled over), but the part where we sang a bunch of songs to keep ourselves awake for the 12:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. drive. I think it is so amazing that we still know all the lyrics to “Part of Your World” from the Little Mermaid!!!

Erin’s wedding was this weekend. It’s funny how something that I’ve been thinking about for a year finally happened. All my friends are getting married! Pretty soon this “phase” of my life will end (once everyone is hitched). Soon, I really will have no one to go clubbing with…I need to find more adventurous spirits to share in my devious course of life. J