Show THE READERS COURTROOM wealthy widow forgot children by will bernard does forgetting names and faces indicate mental weakness the children of a wealthy widow were dismayed to find that they had bad been left out ot of her will entirely they determined to contest the will on the ground that their mother had been mentally incompetent to prove it they recalled that she would often start WE MET 5 MINUTE I 1 S telling a joke get halt half way through and then forget the punch me line moreover they said she would introduce herself to a stranger at n party shake hands and then a few minutes later do the same thing with the same person but the court found tills this evidence inadequate to prove incompetency and held the will valid the judge figured that a woman should not be considered mentally unbalanced just because she lacked a fer te social graces 1 an express train ran through a covey of geese sitting on the track leaving five of 0 them dead the farmer who owned the birds sued for damages saying 1 I dont expect the engineer to stop his train for a few geese but I 1 do think he should at least have given them a w warning arning however the court held the railroad not liable the judge said that rather than scare the geese away a whistle would more probably have caused them to huddle together right where they were for de defense fensel should you wait until the lost last moment before jumping from a burning building A careless janitor dropped a match in the basement of 0 an old hotel and fire soon enveloped the building A guest on the third floor seeing flames in the corridor quickly decided to take the only other exit the window ile he jumped breaking both legs in his fall later he sued the hotel for or damages at the trial the hotel attorney argued the no fire in the corridor very bad at the time this man jumped out the window it if he had gone through the corridor he probably have been injured at all but the court still held the hotel liable the judge said that a person cant be c to make a discriminating choice of exits at such a mo may a pupil collect damages for being kept after school A schoolgirl made so much noise during class that her teacher kept her alter after school for 15 minutes A few days later the teacher was s startled to find himself named defendant in a false imprisonment WE LL SETTLE V I 1 S ii CASE IN I 1 I 1 16 it 0 action the girl claimed 1 I committed any crime and therefore my teacher had no legal right to detain me against my will however the court turned down clown the girls demand the judge said that a teacher must have some kind of disciplinary powers to keep his students under control |