Genie Follow-Up: How Do You Throw The Book At Them?

We posted last night, about the Saudi family suing a "genie" for making their lives miserable.



Somewhat surprisingly, or happily discovered, such nonsense is well legally-represented.

Alex Knapp, over on Outside The Beltway;

I’m also not aware as to whether such cases are taken seriously in Saudi Arabia, though it appears at first glance that it is. Here in the United States, there are a number of people who believe in angels, demons, etc., and believe it or not, lawsuits are filed against such creatures. These are, obviously, routinely dismissed. My personal favorite lawsuit of this kind is Mayo v. Satan and His Staff, in which a suit against Satan was denied on the grounds of lack of personal jurisdiction and failure to provide instructions to serve process. Funny as that is, this opinion is now routinely cited in judicial opinions regarding jurisdiction and I read it on two separate occasions in law school.

While, over on PrawfsBlawg, Dave Fagundes expresses optimism that new law will emerge;

The mind boggles at the legal difficulties raised by the case. How will the family serve process on the genie? If the genie fails to show up in court, and the family gets a default judgment, how will they collect? (Presumably the genie can use his magical powers to conjure up plenty of cash to satisfy the judgment.) Or does the suit seek injunctive relief? This case represents good news for legal academics, too. The field of genie law is significantly under-written (no articles on Westlaw based on a very cursory search), so the lawsuit should provide lots of fodder for novel scholarship.

And, we had to give ourselves a slap-upside-the-head this morning.

We could have made last nights' post a "Retro Garlic";

Top Ten Cloves: Possible Problems With Suing God

Top Most Read/Popular Garlic Posts of 2007

Just catching up on some housekeeping business with this post today.

After the week we had here at The Garlic, we are late with our annual offering, our lazy attempt at a "year-in-review" kind of thing ... Rather than toil for days, piecing together a cleverly-laid-out narrative, tying in all the major (and minor) happenings, with a pithy edge, and esoteric cultural references, we throw on the leisure suit and sneakers via, what else, a list of links!

Monitored by the esteemed firm of Dewey, Cheethem and Howe, we cull from our site traffic, RSS Feeder traffic, links, rumors, WOM, random phone calls and emails, and a guy named "Randy" from Baltimore, to come up with the most popular offerings on The Garlic this past year.

So, have at it, and if you see something you like, spread it around ...

Top Most Read/Popular Garlic Posts of 2007

Honorable Mentions
(Or, an official-sounding way to squeeze in three additional posts)

Breaking News! Hagel Speech Causes Havoc; Payless Shoes Flooded With Job Seekers, Resumes; Applicants Looking For " The Safe Jobs Senator Hagel Talked About"; Tancredo Offers Threats

Top Ten Cloves: Possible Problems With Suing God

Wag The FEMA


10: "What If Spartacus Had To Account For 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols ..."

9: Bill O'Reilly Exclusive! Black People Go To Restaurants ... And They Eat!

8: Breaking News! Another Bombshell - Craig To Enter Rehab; Cites Suffering From 'Restroom Leg Syndrome'

7: Where's Ernest Borgnine when you need him?

6: "They will have flies walking across their eyeballs"

5: Libby Trial Update - The Scooter and Cheney Show Theme Song

4: Vatican Discounts "Bonfire Pope"; Says Flames "Not Hunched Over Enough"; Late Pontiff's Bend Was Measured "Religiously"; Never Used Contingency "Roller Skate Gloves"

3: Jeff Gannon Speaks! ... To The Garlic!

2: The Condoleezza Rice Ballroom Dancing & Charm School; Or: Shopping For A Legacy on Cyber Monday

(Much to our pleasant surprise, the Condi piece got picked up by Reuters)

1: Swedish Film Icon Ingmar Bergman Dead at 89 ; Police Depressed, Working Through Emptiness, Not Ruling Out Foul Play

Top Ten Cloves: Possible Problems With Suing God

News Item: State Sen. Ernie Chambers Sues God

10. Good luck serving the subpoena

9. He can tie you up in motions for centuries

8. Wake up one morning to find your house and lawn covered with locusts

7. He'll cite the mitigating factor of abuse by the Romans to get the suit dropped.

6. He files for "change of venue"; Wants trial to take place in Ave Marie, Florida

5. Out-of-sight costs to have translators in court that can handle the "speaking in tongues" thing

4. Have to find a courthouse that has a lightening rod

3. Next time you go to confession, for a penance, priest tells you to drop the suit

2. Bury you in paperwork ... His witness list: Allah, Buddha, and a whole boatload of Greek, Egyptian, Chinese, and Tibetan Gods...

1. Will make the Book of Revelation look like a kindergarten primer if He has to come down and take the stand


Bonus God Links

CHRIST SLEPT HERE: A TALE OF EASTER

New, Hi-Tech Confessional Booths Possible; Catholic Church To Follow IRS Lead; Will Begin To Sell Confessions; Move Forecasted To Be Boon For On-Line Porn, Gambling, and Divorce Industries

Top Ten Cloves: Things The Vatican Has Done To Make Good Friday Even Better