Could _Gil Thorp_ happen in real life?

[Joseph Nebus]

Of course it couldn't; it's a ``story'' comic strip about teenage
athletes, so nothing that happens in it resembles real-life behavior of
anybody. But to specifics:

The current storyline is about two of the team baseball players,
one of whom is a lawyer fanboy who just will not shut *up* about how
cool lawyers like his dad are --- and I'm fine with this, because his
sad, petty belief that talking about The Law incessantly will get him
girls is the sort of thing I can buy --- and how his dad's going to
totally demolish one of his teammate's dads, who owns a gas station/
convenience store being sued by a guy who slipped on the ice during a
winter storm. Remarkably, Lawyer Fanboy Kid has only been stuffed into
a locker once for all his rambling, that we've seen on-screen anyway.

Now to the point where my disbelief gets suspended: there's
rounds of depositions being taken in the suit, and ...

http://www.gocomics.com/gilthorp/2013/06/13
http://www.gocomics.com/gilthorp/2013/06/14
http://www.gocomics.com/gilthorp/2013/06/15

Yes, Lawyer Dad is suing the *wrong* gas station.

My questions:

1. Is it plausible that plaintiff and plaintiff's attorney
would get the gas station wrong as late as ``taking depositions for
the suit''? I figure it's a low-probability event but it seems like
something that'd be figured out by plaintiff's attorney ahead of
serving papers.

2. Does the defendant get to blurt out the points that crack
the entire case into nonsense like that?

3. What *should* happen when a mistaken fiasco like this
turns up?

4. Why do teams in Milford High School's athletic leagues try
to get into the ``playdowns'' instead of ``playoffs'' like normal
people do? (Well, this one I know; it's just a regionalism, and I do
in principle try to support harmless regionalisms. I forget what
region this implies for the strip, though.)

5. How badly does Lawyer Fanboy Teen deserve to be slugged?
(Read through the archives a bit. He really deserves it.)

--
http://nebusresearch.wordpress.com/ Joseph Nebus
Latest: The Rare Days http://wp.me/p1RYhY-sK
--------------------------------------------------------+---------------------

[D.F. Manno]

Joseph Nebus <nebusj-@-rpi-.edu> wrote:

> My questions:
>
> 1. Is it plausible that plaintiff and plaintiff's attorney
> would get the gas station wrong as late as ``taking depositions for
> the suit''? I figure it's a low-probability event but it seems like
> something that'd be figured out by plaintiff's attorney ahead of
> serving papers.

Here's a Brooklyn lawyer who pursued a judgment against the wrong party
despite being repeatedly told of her error:

<http://exposecorruptcourts.blogspot.com/2008/07/ny-lawyer-who-sued-wrong-party-stuck.html>

Shortly thereafter, the same judge ruled in a case (Wells Fargo Bank v.
Reyes) where a lawyer had the wrong _plaintiff_:

<http://www.msfraud.org/law/lounge/WellsFargo_REYES.pdf>

> 3. What *should* happen when a mistaken fiasco like this
> turns up?

Dismissal or vacated judgment, possibly with sanctions against the lawyer
who screwed up.

> 4. Why do teams in Milford High School's athletic leagues try
> to get into the ``playdowns'' instead of ``playoffs'' like normal
> people do? (Well, this one I know; it's just a regionalism, and I do
> in principle try to support harmless regionalisms. I forget what
> region this implies for the strip, though.)

Mostly Canada, if Google is any indication, but there are also hits for
Vermont, Minnesota and Arizona.
--
D.F. Manno

[Mary]

I've never heard of that. Ah, OK - did a quick google and it appears to
be primarily a curling term.

Mary

[art...@yahoo.com]

On Saturday, June 15, 2013 6:03:50 PM UTC-4, Joseph Nebus wrote:
> Of course it couldn't; it's a ``story'' comic strip about teenage
>
> athletes, so nothing that happens in it resembles real-life behavior of

People read "Gil Thorp" in real life?

[Peter Ward]

art...@yahoo.com says...

It's regularly referenced by the Comics Curmudgeon. I read it, as I
came across a source via RSS, so's I know what the CC is going on about.

http://joshreads.com/

--

Peter, from outside the asylum

I'm an alien
email: usenet at peterward dot adsl24 dot co dot uk
There's no need to think when you can google.
- Don K

[Greg Goss]

D.F. Manno <dfm...@mail.com> wrote:


>> 4. Why do teams in Milford High School's athletic leagues try
>> to get into the ``playdowns'' instead of ``playoffs'' like normal
>> people do? (Well, this one I know; it's just a regionalism, and I do
>> in principle try to support harmless regionalisms. I forget what
>> region this implies for the strip, though.)
>
>Mostly Canada, if Google is any indication, but there are also hits for
>Vermont, Minnesota and Arizona.

Not familiar to me from semirural BC nor urban Vancouver or Calgary.
--
We are geeks. Resistance is voltage over current.

[Joseph Nebus]

No, just the Internet.

[bill van]

In article <b24jui...@mid.individual.net>,

I'm familiar with it, but I don't remember where from. It's all playoffs
in sports I follow now.

One clue, though: a significant number of the early hits in a search for
playdowns have to do with curling.

bill

[bill van]

In article <Ju6dnW5LkehocCHM...@mchsi.com>,

Mary <mrfea...@a0l.com> wrote:

> I've never heard of that. Ah, OK - did a quick google and it appears to
> be primarily a curling term.
>

Yes, of course I should have reddahed.

bill

[D.F. Manno]

In article <Ju6dnW5LkehocCHM...@mchsi.com>,
Mary <mrfea...@a0l.com> wrote:

The Arizona hit is for hockey:

<http://www.azamateurhockey.org/page/show/233300-youth-state-championship
s-playdowns->

One Vermont hit is for softball:

<http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20130605/SPORTS05/306050027/H
-S-playdowns-Maher-guides-BHS-past-Mt-Mansfield>

Another Vermont hit is for basketball:

<http://www.wcax.com/story/21431722/boys-hoop-playoff-scores-highlights-f
or-thursday-feb-28th>

And here's one for lawn bowling:

<http://www.lawnbowlscentral.com/?page_id=897>

--
D.F. Manno | dfm...@mail.com
GOP delenda est!