Lawyers Ordered to Play RPS to Settle Dispute

Rent-to-Pwn writes "After the lawyers involved couldn't settle even the most basic disputes without court intervention, a federal judge ordered the two lawyers to play one (1) game of rock, paper, scissors to settle the dispute. Being a federal case, in theory, it could become precedent for similar, unimportant decisions. Of course, there's no mention of what the two lawyers are supposed to do in case of a tie ..."

Re:Good old rock...

[TripMaster Monkey]

It's a reference to a Simpsons episode:

LISA: Look, there's only one way to settle this. Rock-paper-scissors.
LISA'S BRAIN: Poor predictable Bart. Always takes 'rock'.
BART'S BRAIN: Good ol' 'rock'. Nothin' beats that!
BART: Rock!
LISA: Paper.
BART: D'oh!

Rock Paper Scissors

[Sentri]

Well son, you've gone and got yourself in for a battle.

Heres what you gotta do:

study up http://www.worldrps.com/ [worldrps.com] and get this http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743267516/ theofficiaroc-20 [amazon.com]

You may want to get some fancy RPS gear, http://www.worldrps.com/index.php?option=com_wrapp er&Itemid=53 [worldrps.com], and dont bother bringing that rolex, it will slow you down

Also, we knoe those who ignore history are doomed to repeat its mistakes, so why dont you read up on the history of the game too, could come in handy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock%2C_paper%2C_scis sors [wikipedia.org]

Re:Geez... what a precedent

[metalog]

What precedent? The game was to settle the location of a deposition, not the case itself. They where fighting over what floor it should take place since their offices are in the same building. The whole thing is ridiculous and the judge responded accordingly.

Coin flipping

[interiot]

Well, various US states also say that a coin flip is a valid way to break a tie in elections (eg. in Washington [soundpolitics.com]).

I mean, sometimes officials can state with a fair bit of certainty that 1) it very important to make a choice... you can split the baby in half, and 2) with statistical certainty, that either outcome is equally prefered. In this case, such a procedure is appropriate even in law or elections.

Actually, its mostly because the issue is trivial

[patio11]

The judge was sort of miffed. The issue that was decided is "Where do we have a deposition?" This is something that people who were not petulant two-year olds could agree to in a matter of seconds ("Your place or mine?"). What makes it *particularly* a waste of the judge's time is that the two firms are located in the same office building, four floors from each other. So the judge said essentially "Heck if I care, flip a bloody coin and stop wasting my time", except with rather more tact.

This information comes from www.overlawyered.com.

Re:Actually, its mostly because the issue is trivi

[anagama]

This is something that people who were not petulant two-year olds could agree to in a matter of seconds ("Your place or mine?").

TFA isn't clear on who called the deposition. Most lawyers like to have depostions they call performed on their home turf. The notion is that there is some psychological advantage to have the depostion occur in their own lair rather than in a place the witness will feel comfortable. It's likely the defense called this deposition because Plaintiff wants it set up in a neutral territory -- the court reporter's office -- and the defense wants it at its office. That's my guess at the motivation behind their wrangling anyway. It's pretty traditional for the person who calls a deposition to get to name the place (*), so it is understandable that the defense would be frustrated. One thing is certain, nobody scores points with the judge if the question of location is brought to the court.

(*) There are of course many perfectly valid reasons why deps might be held elsewhere than the office of the party who called the deposition.

Ties

[anno1602]

For those not familiar with Rock,Paper,Scissors or as we called it when I was a kid in Hawaii "Junk ina Po", there are no ties. Rock loses to paper and beats scissors, paper loses to scissors (of course) and finally scissors loses to rock.

Who wins when both parties choose the same hand?