Laying Down the Law: Accountant Edition

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Billy: [00:00:03] From the Beyond Reasonable Doubt Studios. In association with fighter production.

[00:00:11] It's lay down the law.

Billy: [00:00:19] With your host. Billy Dee Clarke.

Billy: [00:00:22] Hey, that's me.

Billy: [00:00:23] Yeah, that's right, Billy. That's me. Featuring Blake, Oliver, Lorne Michaels and Curtis Rutherford. Only a madman would dare to bring these people together to build a world of law and order only to tear it apart with laughter. That mad man is attorney Billy de Klerk. The result is a podcast blasted to the farthest reaches of the Internet. That podcast is this one, and it starts right now.

Billy: [00:00:56] Welcome to Laying Down the Law Earmark Edition, the Law and Comedy podcast hosted by me. The unacknowledged bastard child of Steve Martin and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. You know, it's really hot summer in the Hamptons. I'd like to introduce my three returning guests. First is a returning guest from season one, a CPA who specializes in cloud technology and the co host of the Cloud Accounting podcast. A weekly news update for accountants and bookkeepers. He's a two time honoree to the CPA. Practice Advisor's 40 under 40 list, and he's been named to accounting. Today's top 100 Most Influential People List. At Northwestern University, he majored in cello performance, and his musical ear is why he's the visionary behind earmark. See what I did? My main money man. Blake. Oliver.

Blake: [00:01:48] Billy, it is awesome to be here with you.

Billy: [00:01:52] It's awesome to have you back. And we're going to have some fun today. I'm going to make you break out of your comfort zone.

Blake: [00:01:58] I hope so.

Billy: [00:02:00] All right. My next guest is a writer, improviser and host of the podcast Improv Beat by Beat. His writing may be found on McSweeney's and elsewhere, including Twitter, like a lot. He's also a member of Megaplex, the improvised movie Fluffy and Ghost, the improv group whose 75 minute improv set recorded in the first year of the pandemic, took me the entire second year of the pandemic to, quote, fix in post, end quote. He's the one and only at actually Curtis Rutherford, r e r Ford. Welcome, Curtis Rutherford.

Curtis: [00:02:38] Thanks, Billy. Good to be back. Can't wait to do a three hour improv set this time.

Lauren: [00:02:45] Yeah.

Billy: [00:02:47] It's. It's a marvel movie length.

Lauren: [00:02:50] Improv set.

Billy: [00:02:52] All right. And welcome back. Another returning guest. She is an actor and comedian who enjoys writing while riding a bicycle, even though she's from Dayton, Ohio. And she's cringing as I read her bio, she studied theater at the Stella Adler studio and mastered making mistakes in New York so that she could share her gifts as a standardized patient in Pittsburgh. Influencing and impacting future doctors of the world and your welcome doctors and patients. She enjoys camping and driving across the country, which led her to discover La la land is her most natural habitat. She performs stand up comedy weekly while procrastinating on other pursuits. Follow her down the rabbit hole or on social media at. Elle Orange. Mysie. Elle Orange Missy and at Sweet Relish Films. Welcome back to the podcast, Lauren Michaels.

Lauren: [00:03:48] Thank you. Thank you for reading that. And it is the Stella Adler that.

Lauren: [00:03:54] Is Stella Adler. Oh, now we're going to have.

Lauren: [00:03:56] That's the. That's the British pronunciation.

Billy: [00:03:58] I'm going to have to. We have to that an hour in that. Yeah. Stella Adler. Well, I'm thrilled that. Yeah, I'm thrilled to have you all back on the show. But first, a word from our sponsor.

Lauren: [00:04:11] Insert advertisement.

Lauren: [00:04:12] Here.

Billy: [00:04:13] Okay, Blake, thanks for getting us that sponsor. I really appreciate.

Lauren: [00:04:16] It. Yeah.

Billy: [00:04:18] I hope to pressure. I hope I do. Yes. Thank you. Hope I do. Thank you to one 800. Delivery. Thanks, Mom.

Curtis: [00:04:29] When I needed a delivery thing, I called one 800 delivery thing.

Billy: [00:04:33] They deliver all the things.

Curtis: [00:04:35] But one.

Blake: [00:04:36] 800 Accountant. There is a one 800 account.

Billy: [00:04:38] One 800 accountant?

Blake: [00:04:40] Yes. They're probably not the sponsor.

Billy: [00:04:42] And no emergency accounting needs.

Lauren: [00:04:45] Yes. All right.

Billy: [00:04:48] All right. Well, this week's case is Gorton versus Dodie. It's a 1937 case from Ohio.

Blake: [00:04:54] Wait, wait, wait. Billy, aren't you going to like. This is the first episode, right? We're going to lay out what this is.

Billy: [00:05:00] Oh, well, we have so many returning listeners, I'm sure they all already know. But since we're the first episode on earmark for all you new accountant listeners, what do we do on laying down the law? Laying down the law is a law and comedy podcast. We take law and then we run it through the meat grinder of comedy in order to make it understandable and fun. I call it edu tainment. Now, adding accountants, I used to say it's like the peanut butter and chocolate that two great tastes that go great together. But now that we're adding accounts, it's like a P.B. and J sandwich. It's bread would be the law bread. The peanut butter would be the improv peanut butter and accountants. You're the jelly, the delicious.

Lauren: [00:05:44] Sweet, sweet.

Billy: [00:05:45] Fruit part that makes a PB and J, a PB and J instead of just a PB.

Blake: [00:05:51] Arguably the best part too.

Billy: [00:05:52] Oh, fantastic. And because this is for accountants continuing education credits, we're going to go longer than the usual 20 minutes so you can get a full 45 minute accounting continuing education credits. Now, how does this work for those of the many, many, many listeners who are following laying down the law from our traditional audience into this new space for many, many non accountant listeners, how does this.

Lauren: [00:06:18] Work?

Blake: [00:06:19] So we have to hit a total audio duration of 36.2 minutes per National Association of State Boards of Accountancy rules 36.2 Easy.

Curtis: [00:06:31] Yeah.

Blake: [00:06:32] You don't miss the point too. It's very important. So if we do that, we can offer an hour of CPE credit for this episode.

Billy: [00:06:40] This is what I love about accountants. How long is an hour? 36.2 minutes.

Blake: [00:06:45] Well, the multiple choice, the eight multiple choice questions are themselves worth a certain amount of time.

Lauren: [00:06:50] So fantastic.

Blake: [00:06:52] But it's really a 50 minute hour. Yeah. Just absolutely clear things up. Yeah.

Curtis: [00:06:58] No. Yeah, it's a 50 minute hour, of which 36.2 minutes is the actual time. And other questions are the time within the 50 minute hour that aren't included in the 36.2.

Blake: [00:07:09] Oh my God, Curtis, you should be an accountant.

Curtis: [00:07:11] Thank you.

Blake: [00:07:12] Got that? Faster than half of our audience.

Billy: [00:07:14] Yes, absolutely. Yeah. I was going to ask, I think. Yeah, I added you on on Twitter. And this is, by the way, accountants. This is this podcast does venture into explicit language.

Lauren: [00:07:29] So I'm just going to warn you. So if I couldn't.

Billy: [00:07:32] Give two shits about something, then that means I could give one shit. But the question then is what happens to the second shit? Also, if I'm giving a shit, does that mean that the one shit is is a deduction? And then is the second? How do I, how do I what's the tax treatment of the second shit which I do not give.

Blake: [00:07:55] I'm not a tax accountant, so I don't have to answer that question.

Billy: [00:07:58] Perfect. Well, write me at Max Headroom, Esquire with any answers and make sure you hashtag. I don't give a shit at all when you send it.

Blake: [00:08:08] I mean, if it's a donation, that's a write off, right? I think I know that much.

Billy: [00:08:11] Well, it's a gift. I guess it's a gift. Well, it depends on whether it's a gift that's a charitable gift or a gift. That's an inheritance gift. At generation skipping shit.

Curtis: [00:08:22] My grandfather died and he gave me one shit. Can I write that off?

Billy: [00:08:27] Yeah. No, no, he can write it off.

Curtis: [00:08:29] He can write it off.

Billy: [00:08:30] He can write off that shit. Oh, I don't give.

Lauren: [00:08:33] Two shits about my.

Billy: [00:08:34] Grandkids. I don't give two shits about my grandkid, but I do give one shit.

Blake: [00:08:41] Anyway, Why are we talking about the shits?

Billy: [00:08:44] Well, because this is a tax accounting podcast, so that's all I know about tax and accounting is that what can. Can I write it off? Essentially, the thing I understand about accounting is that you write off everything and then you tell your accountant, Can I write off everything? And they're saying and then they say, Is this do I need to? Are these audited financial statements? And then I say, No. And then they say, Do whatever you want.

Curtis: [00:09:09] Welcome back to the Wesley Snipes Accounting podcast, where you will find out everything you need to know to go to jail.

Lauren: [00:09:17] Yeah, I have to change accountants. My dad's my accountant now and he's so prideful about his business, so he doesn't do any write offs.

Lauren: [00:09:27] It's horrible. Oh, yeah.

Billy: [00:09:30] No, in all seriousness. So. So the reason I'm doing this, because I don't know anything about accounting. If you haven't gathered that in the first 4 minutes. Well, I am a lawyer. So I understand that accountants need to keep up on business law, right? Yes. So this is meeting the business law portion of the accounting. And this this case that I'm doing, Gorton versus Dodie is actually from my business law book. I'm going to go get it off the shelf. Hold on one second.

Blake: [00:10:01] And while Billy does that, I think in full disclosure, everyone should know that Billy was once my bookkeeping client long ago. So.

Billy: [00:10:09] Aha.

Blake: [00:10:11] Yeah. And that's how we know each other.

Billy: [00:10:13] Okay.

Billy: [00:10:14] All right. Since this is an auditory medium. Excuse me. I just walked across my office and I got a business associations. Clearly, it's a well read book that I read many times, and I flagged all the pages I read. There are two Post-it notes in here, and I'll go ahead and open to page one, Chapter one on agency, Law Agency. For those of you who don't already know, is the power of one person to do something on behalf of another person. So the principal is the person for whom something is being done and the agent is the doer of things on behalf of the principal. And the reason this matters is because.

Blake: [00:10:58] He's putting on the glasses.

Billy: [00:10:59] I am because I'm going to actually read from this book. The reason this matters is because if an agent signs a contract, then the principal is bound. If the agent commits a tort within the scope of agency, then the principal is going to have to pay for it. So so for example, employers and employees, if the employee, you know, serves somebody very hot coffee, and then that somebody who gets served the very hot coffee spills it, the employee who serves the very hot coffee can be sued. But also the maker of said hot coffee can also be sued. So that's why principle agency relationships matter. So this case is is a case involving an auto accident. In September of 1935. This lawsuit was brought by 1ir. S Gorton, who sued because his son Richard, who was a high school football player, he was a junior at the Soda Springs High School, was injured in a car accident, being driven back from an away game in Paris. I assume that's Paris, Idaho, occurred on September 21, 1935. He was being driven by an adult volunteer in a privately owned vehicle. So this was the old carpool. The car that Richard Gorton was riding in was owned by Charlotte Dougherty. She was a teacher at Soda Springs High School. And the car was being driven by Russell Garst, who was the football team's coach. This part isn't in the highly edited version that's in the law school textbook. But Russell Garst was 22 years old.

Blake: [00:12:43] The driver.

Billy: [00:12:44] The driver of the car. So the reason that this comes up on an agency law analysis is that at trial there was $870 in monetary damages that were owed to the father for medical bills and and so forth. And Richard Gorton was awarded $5,000 in the trial. Charlotte Doty was found liable for $5,870 because it was claimed that Coach Garst was her agent. And so what was one of the issues that was appealed there? A lot of issues appealed, but one of them is, was there a principal agent relationship between Charlotte Doty and Russell Garst that would cause Charlotte Doty to be fully liable for the things that Garst did?

Curtis: [00:13:35] So basically because Garst is driving Dougherty's car, Doty, according to this, is fully on the line. It is as if Doty were driving the car herself and hit young Richard. Gordon.

Billy: [00:13:49] Gorton Well, Gorton was a passenger.

Curtis: [00:13:51] Gorton was a passenger. So if so, she really didn't hit him. So Gordon was in the car. It was as if Doty had, I don't know, was drunk, drove off, injured Richard. But even though she wasn't there, she just lent her car. It's just it's it's equivalent legally.

Billy: [00:14:09] Right. And that's exactly the situation. So so her defense was. I just loaned my car to the coach. And the law is that if you just loan your car, it's called a gratuitous. Bailey A gratuitous Bailey means you loan something to someone. Bailey Baylor is the person who does the loaning. The Bailey is the person who who gets the vehicle and gratuitous means for no money. It's a gift. So. So if she just loaned the car to Garst, then she wouldn't be liable. But if he was her agent. He would be liable. And so she testified at trial that she had just loaned the car to Garst. He wasn't her employee. He didn't work for her. He didn't promise to pay her anything for the car. And basically she testified that the day before the game, they were apparently maybe in the teacher's lounge or something. She had asked Garst if he needed another car to drive the kids to the football game, and he said yes. And she said, You can use my car.

Blake: [00:15:17] So why is she getting sued? I don't know. Why is she a defendant?

Billy: [00:15:20] It was so it was her car.

Blake: [00:15:23] Right. Well, what happened? Why did.

Billy: [00:15:26] Well, this is this is one of the interesting things. I was preparing for this podcast and I actually read the entire case, which is not something I usually do. And so so you get these highly condensed case cases. And this is a this is a a swipe at lawyers, but they can take it. So you get a highly condensed case which is intended to make a legal point. And obviously the cases that are put in are weird. They're on the line. So this is a case that illustrates this point and potentially was wrongly decided. So what happened in the accident isn't in the law textbook, but I found out researching. I'll tell you what happened in the actual case since you asked or do you want to know what the legal the legal point is first?

Blake: [00:16:07] No, I would love to. I'd love to just like, figure out what like what happened in like what led us to this point.

Billy: [00:16:12] So let me tell you first the facts that matter to the question presented. The question being whether Russell Garst was the agent for Charlotte Dodie is this She knew the Soda Springs High School football team was going to be playing the Paris High School football team at Paris High on September 21. She volunteered to use her car transporting some of the members of the Soda Springs team to and from the game. She asked the coach, Russell Garst, if he had all the cars he needed. He said he needed one more and she said he could use her car if he drove it.

Blake: [00:16:47] Did she go to the game?

Billy: [00:16:49] She did not.

Blake: [00:16:50] Yeah, she did. They all pile into the cars and they go to the.

Billy: [00:16:53] Pile in the car. Yes. She wasn't promised any compensation. The school district paid for the gas. She loaned the car and she'd not employed him. She not directed him to do his work or services or what he was doing.

Billy: [00:17:04] Okay.

Billy: [00:17:05] Loaned her car. That's it. Except she said nobody else was to drive it.

Blake: [00:17:09] Fair enough.

Billy: [00:17:10] Okay.

Curtis: [00:17:11] Does that like, only you can. Is that what they're saying? Like, because she said only you, Garst, can do this. That is like, equivalent of saying you are my agent. You are. You are being dowdy right now. You are being. What was her first name? Charlotte. You are being Charlotte, Dodi and driving my car.

Billy: [00:17:31] She said in relating the conversation. That was the extent of it. Question On or about the 21st day of September 1934. State Whether or not you permitted Russell Car to use the car? Answer I did. Under what circumstances? I loaned it to him. When did you loan and loan it to him? Was it that day or the day before? On the day before. I told him he might have it on the next day. Did you receive any compensation or were you promised any compensation for its use? No, sir. What were the circumstances under which you permitted him to take it? Well. After having so testified, appellant was then asked, You may relate the conversation with him if there was such conversation. Answer I asked him if he had all the cars necessary for his trip to Paris the next day. He said he needed one more. I said that he might use mine if he drove it. That was the extent of it. And the court says we therefore conclude the evidence supports the finding of the jury that the relationship of principal and agent existed between appellant and Russell Garst.

Blake: [00:18:46] So they all go to the football game. Everything's fine getting there. It's on the ride back. The drive back. That's when there's a crash.

Billy: [00:18:54] All right. Well, you want to know what's not in the case book? You just keep pushing. Like, keep pushing and you keep pushing. I'm just going to tell you, this whole part is not relevant to the decision of the case. It's not in the business associations casebook. It doesn't tell us anything about principle and agency law. And yet you still want to know.

Billy: [00:19:10] Okay, so this next part.

Lauren: [00:19:12] This is what I need to know. Did they win the game?

Billy: [00:19:14] That's not in the case at all. I don't know about that.

Lauren: [00:19:16] But if they were celebrating, maybe there was Gatorade thrown. You know something?

Billy: [00:19:21] I don't think there's any Gatorade. In 1935, I think it was whiskey.

Lauren: [00:19:25] Really. I thought Gatorade was as old as Mountain Dew. I don't know if it's old.

Curtis: [00:19:31] You know that old saying as old as Mountain Dew.

Billy: [00:19:35] I think. Yeah. The Mountain Dew came over the Mayflower, I believe.

Billy: [00:19:39] Was it. It was a right.

Billy: [00:19:41] I didn't drink it.

Blake: [00:19:43] I didn't read your briefing, Billy. So I'm trying to get the facts straight here. So they got, they got into a crash.

Billy: [00:19:49] And you want to know about that car? He wants to know about the crash. All right.

Blake: [00:19:52] So there was an accident, right?

Billy: [00:19:53] Yes. So here's what happened. Richard Gorton at the time of the accident had been driving for about three or four years. He had experience as a passenger in a car. That's Richard, the son who was injured. He estimated that the coach was driving about 55 miles an hour when the accident occurred. But he also testified he wasn't really paying attention where the car was being driven or how fast it was going. He was seated in the front seat between the coach and another member of the football team. So they had three across the front seat and there were two members in the back seat on the highway where the accident occurred and for several miles in either direction was smooth and oil surface, the highway was dry and there was no other traffic. At the point in time of the accident. The accident happened at a sharp 10% curve just after dark that the car lights were on and Richard Gorton did not object to the speed it was being driven. He testified that the coach didn't ask the boys to go with him. He just told them, You're going with me. Kind of like out of order. But anyway, when the car reached the curve, it moved straight ahead from the hard surface onto the shoulder and from the shoulder into a barrow pit and along a bank at the side of the road until it reached the end of the bank where it left the highway and continued down a steep slope and into a gulch some distant from the highway. The automobile was practically new and in good condition, and that the coach died shortly after the accident and the injuries received.

Curtis: [00:21:18] Gs So that's why he was not being sued. Okay, okay.

Blake: [00:21:21] Now I get it.

Lauren: [00:21:23] That what kind of cars?

Billy: [00:21:26] It's fairly new car. It doesn't say what the model is.

Blake: [00:21:30] It was one. It was an old timey car.

Lauren: [00:21:31] This is 1930 model three or something. Yeah.

Lauren: [00:21:35] Yeah.

Billy: [00:21:36] It was an Edsel and Edsel.

Blake: [00:21:38] So. Okay. Wow. So they're in a bad accident just caused by, like, probably somebody like, the coach kind of drifted off, maybe or wasn't paying attention. Missed the miss the bend, right. Right off.

Billy: [00:21:50] The road. It was like he drove off the side of the road, basically going about 55. There was a big curve. And he. Yep. And he rolled right off this right off the side of the road down a ravine.

Blake: [00:22:00] So Richard Gordon's dad decides to.

Lauren: [00:22:03] Sue.

Blake: [00:22:04] The owner of the car. Charlotte Doty.

Billy: [00:22:06] Right. And I'm going to when I get to the dissenting opinion, I'm going to get into what I think is really going on here. But but they expenses were sued for hospitalization, doctor surgeon, nurses fees. And then the father also as a guardian for his son, brings it to damages for injuries that he sustained. And there's testimony that basically he his leg was fractured and he wasn't really he didn't walk the same afterward. Poor kid. Yeah. So there's a whole discussion in the full case that doesn't have anything to do with principle and agency about whether the damages were excessive because $5,000 is a lot of money in 1937. And basically they said it was because he had this permanent injury.

Blake: [00:22:53] Yeah, that's like almost a hundred grand today.

Billy: [00:22:56] Yeah, it was. I mean, it's not you know, it's not the Barnes firm kind of money, but, you know, it gets you there.

Curtis: [00:23:07] Quick question about principle and agency before we go more into like the how it's being possibly misused here. So what are the normal like aspects in which somebody is definitely working as an agent for me? Like normally what I have to say, Billy, you are my agent. You were selling my boat. You are doing this or Billy, you now you work for me. And because you work for me, you are now automatically my agent.

Billy: [00:23:33] Yeah. I'll give you an example. At one point in my business, I had an office where I received mail that was separate from where I was actually running the business, and I had a couple of employees. And so one of my employees, her job was to drive over to the office where we got the mail every day and pick up the mail and bring it back. And I was sharing the office space with someone who worked for an insurance company, and he said, you should really get insurance for your employees use of a vehicle because if your employee gets in an accident while driving over to the other office to pick up the mail, you could be liable because that is driving within the scope of employment. So she was my employee. Her job was to drive over, pick up the mail and drive back. Now, why was I so worried about my privacy that I couldn't use my actual address? It's a whole other story.

Curtis: [00:24:22] But because she was your employee, she just automatically working as an agent for you.

Billy: [00:24:28] Right. So if she had gotten an accident driving those two miles across town, you know, whatever would have happened, I could have been sued. And so I had insurance to cover that expense, that risk. So that's a clear the clearest example of principal agent relationship is an employer employee relationship. An attorney is is an agent for a person. Obviously, a real estate agent is an agent for a person. Usually it's established by some kind of a contractual relationship. A CPA can be an Oh, there he goes, making it relevant. But CPA is an it can be an agent. And in some cases, you know, an accountant could sign a contract for a company, you know, potentially bind the company, bind the company if they're held out to be an agent. There are a lot of other aspects of agency, whether it's implied or actual agency or whether there's contractual agency or whether you give the impression of being somebody's agent. So, you know, so partners are agents. So if you enter into a partnership with someone. Unless you have a specific written agreement and it's a general partnership, then the act of the one partner binds the other partner. So when your partners, you're both principals and agents of one another. So anything one partner does. This is sort of a side note. I give a lot of people advice and one of the things I'll remind them is personal. Unlimited liability for the acts of your partner within the scope of the partnership. So that means if your partner goes out and takes out $1,000,000 loan and you didn't know about it, and there it's a general partnership, meaning you don't have an agreement, you're on the hook as a partner because it's a general. You're a general partner. So unlimited liability for the acts of your partner within the scope of the partnership. And those are principle and agency relations.

Curtis: [00:26:23] Gotcha. And so that's like the normal vanilla version. And then this obviously is like the borderline case where she clearly or sorry, he Gerst, did not work for Dodie.

Billy: [00:26:34] Right.

Curtis: [00:26:36] He worked for the school. It's weird that the school isn't at all part of this, right?

Billy: [00:26:40] Yeah, that's. That is an interesting. I think these days you'd almost certainly have sued the school.

Lauren: [00:26:47] Or the car company for making an unsafe car.

Billy: [00:26:50] And also the highway. Also the the the department. Boy, we are like plaintiffs lawyers right in here. Yeah. You would have sued the Department of Transportation for not having a guardrail, for not marking it, not having a sign.

Curtis: [00:27:04] And also, the car went through, I think they said a burrow and then a ditch. And then another thing I'd be suing the ditch, the gulch, the burro, all of those.

Blake: [00:27:12] Animals that live in the burro.

Lauren: [00:27:14] Right, exactly.

Billy: [00:27:16] Yeah. Yeah. Just he went off the road into a ditch and then down a ravine. Not good. No airbags at all in 1937.

Blake: [00:27:25] So that's principal and agency.

Billy: [00:27:27] Mm hmm. Okay, so here's a nice quote from from Richard At trial. He said, Well, the first thing I noticed, sir, was the sign of.

Lauren: [00:27:34] The bank coming up and going.

Billy: [00:27:36] Off the road. And then I noticed him trying to pull the car back on the road from the shoulder and the gravel and.

Lauren: [00:27:40] Then skidding into the bank. Golly gee, sir, I can't walk no more.

Curtis: [00:27:47] So because of this riveting testimony and his tiny Tim like inability to walk his his pulling on the heartstrings of the court, they say, Och, Garst was definitely the agent of Doty. Therefore, Doty, you're on the line. You owe all of this money.

Billy: [00:28:06] Right?

Lauren: [00:28:06] And the the.

Billy: [00:28:07] The test, the real test of agency here is the the idea of control. So consent and control. So agency is a manifestation of consent that one person will act on another person's behalf and subject to their control. And then the consent by the agent to act as an agent. So the court here, the majority rules that Dodie and coach both consented that he would drive her car. It doesn't matter that he did it for free. You don't have to pay someone to be your agent, essentially, because she said you're the only one that can drive it. They thought that that was really important, that the jury could find that he was her agent.

Blake: [00:28:48] This seems kind of crazy that just loaning somebody your car and attaching a condition to it can establish agency.

Billy: [00:28:57] Right. That's how it gets in a law school textbook for sure.

Blake: [00:29:01] Is that still the case?

Billy: [00:29:03] You know, I'm pretty sure you could argue this is a wrongly decided case.

Lauren: [00:29:07] No way. Because then Uber would have to pay a lot more for a lot more.

Lauren: [00:29:10] Things going.

Billy: [00:29:11] Well. And I think the thing about I mean, Uber is a great example of of agency law because and there's a we could do three or four episodes of a podcast about Uber's handling of agency law because obviously they have contracts, multiple layers of contracts, click, click, wrap contracts. They've been sued and accused of being an employer of these drivers. Then they went and changed the law and got a ballot initiative passed. It's kind of a whole layer upon layer upon layer.

Curtis: [00:29:44] So now technically, Uber drivers are just friends of Uber.

Billy: [00:29:47] Yeah, exactly. I've noticed actually, that Uber's have gotten really hard to get ever since the pandemic. It's like it's been very difficult to even find an Uber driver. It's like Uber Driver will be here in 27 minutes and then they cancel halfway through. And and Uber is not a sponsor of this podcast.

Lauren: [00:30:09] Well.

Billy: [00:30:10] So sad. Judge Budge spoke up and dissented. Judge Budge is dissent focuses on how weak the connection is and how little control Charlotte Doty had over coach.

Curtis: [00:30:23] Real quick, Judge Budge is such like a Disney name for a judge. Like that's the judge that tells Mickey that, you know, he has to pay those two pies back to Goofy.

Billy: [00:30:33] Like, Yeah, I couldn't resist mentioning Judge Budge.

Lauren: [00:30:37] And that's the order. And that's about all right now, that car. Yeah, exactly. Milkshakes.

Billy: [00:30:45] Exactly. And now he's one of the Ronald McDonald.

Lauren: [00:30:49] Gang.

Lauren: [00:30:53] Crossover.

Billy: [00:30:53] There. Exactly. So there's no evidence to support that The coach was the agent at all. He says, you know, an agent is someone with a business kind of relationship or to manage their personal affairs with their authority. It's not enough to just give permission. There wasn't really any instruction as to what they were going to do. They worked at the same school and the coach was loaned the car on his own. She just loaned him the car out of the kindness of her heart.

Lauren: [00:31:20] So is this his agency? It's his team going.

Billy: [00:31:25] Right? I mean, he's yeah, I mean, he was the one acting.

Lauren: [00:31:28] Like he's doing her job, right?

Billy: [00:31:31] His job? Yeah. The only reason that the majority says is that is that she said he said, well you have to drive it because he says that's obvious he didn't want any of the teenagers to be driving it so she loaned the car. This is your exact point. Judge Budge agrees with you. She loaned the car to the Koch for his benefit, not for her, her own. She just wanted him to avoid an accident, which, you know, was not didn't turn out. But it didn't.

Lauren: [00:32:02] Make him do one thing. One thing. Don't crash the car.

Curtis: [00:32:06] Stay out of the gulches, the ravines, the.

Billy: [00:32:08] Boroughs, all of it. And and then Judge Budge points out and this is a quote, one who borrows a car for his own use is a gratuitous Bailey and not an agent of the owner. So there's something else going on in this case. And this isn't part of the business law, part of it. But Judge Budge points out that there's this statement in closing argument by the plaintiff's lawyer, and he says, You have a right to draw on your experience as businessmen. 1937 All male jury, sorry, you have a right to draw on your experience in determining the facts in this case and what you know from your experience as businessmen sorry, 1937.

Lauren: [00:32:57] That prudent.

Billy: [00:32:58] Automobile owners usually protect themselves.

Lauren: [00:33:01] Against just such.

Billy: [00:33:02] Contingencies as are involved in this.

Lauren: [00:33:05] Case.

Curtis: [00:33:06] So sorry, that was the plaintiff's attorney. Okay. So basically saying this is what she should have done. If she were smart, she would have defended herself as a prudent automobile owner.

Billy: [00:33:19] She's hinting to the existence of insurance.

Curtis: [00:33:23] Gotcha.

Billy: [00:33:24] So he's saying prudent automobile owners usually protect themselves against just such contingencies, are involved in this case. So he's hinting that she had insurance. And so the law is that you're not allowed to say that the defendant has insurance. It is error, it's a mistake. It's grounds for a mistrial. And so the when this happened, the defense. Counsel called for a sidebar and they went into chambers and basically defense counsel asked for a mistrial on that basis because they improperly referred to her insurance. The court didn't think that that was grounds for a mistrial. And so the judge went back into court and he repeated the testimony and then told the jury to disregard it.

Lauren: [00:34:09] Okay.

Blake: [00:34:10] Okay. So this is making sense to me now because I'm thinking to myself, why would a jury. Go after the school teacher for $5,000, the equivalent of 100 grand today. When her car was destroyed through no real fault of her own, she just loaned the car to the coach. The coach is also dead. It's a terrible situation, but clearly the kid has medical bills. And somebody's got to pay for it. And the jury gets the implication that there's insurance that's going to cover this if they. Make this decision. Right. That's what's got to be went on here.

Billy: [00:34:52] I think that's I think that's probably right.

Lauren: [00:34:54] And that happens a lot, right.

Blake: [00:34:55] Like, I mean, that's got to happen today, right, Billy?

Billy: [00:34:57] I think it happens all the time. I think juries sort of guesstimate about what's the rough justice and don't necessarily pay attention to the law. That's the role of the judge is to make the legal rulings and the jury is to interpret the facts. And sometimes the jury just tries to do what they think is right, not really necessarily following the law. And so the argument of the defense, he uses the word mocked. You're trying to mock the defendant and damages.

Blake: [00:35:25] Wait, what word is that.

Billy: [00:35:26] Mocked like mulch? Mulch. He's trying to mocked the defendant in damages.

Curtis: [00:35:33] It feels like 1930s Ohio slang that has not survived.

Billy: [00:35:37] And didn't make it. So the judge denied the motion for a mistrial and and instructed the reporter to read the remarks to the jury again and then instructed the jury to disregard the remarks. So in case you missed it, you have a right to draw on your experience of businessmen in determining the facts in this case. And you know, from your experience as businessmen, that prudent automobile owners usually protect themselves against just such contingencies as are involved in this case. Pay no attention to that statement whatsoever. You're to disregard.

Blake: [00:36:08] It. And so I take it, Judge Budge, who did not budge in his opinion, to go with the majority that was on appeal, that was some sort of like.

Billy: [00:36:19] He was the dissent. So I think there were let me just check. I think there were three in the majority. And and Judge Budge was the dissenting judge to maybe think it was a three judge panel, two and one or something like that. He was the in the minority opinion. God. Mocked means to punish.

Blake: [00:36:40] I look, Google tells me it says extract money from someone by fine or taxation.

Lauren: [00:36:45] Mm hmm.

Lauren: [00:36:46] Oh, punish like.

Billy: [00:36:47] Yeah. The inference was that the respondent was attempting to punish her for having volunteered the use of her car. And so he he basically argued this is the plaintiff's lawyer. He said, it's not punishment. I'm not trying to mock her in damages. I'm just saying, you know, she probably has insurance.

Lauren: [00:37:03] Are you trying to Mostly right now.

Billy: [00:37:05] I'm you know what? I don't go by it. I don't let a day go by when I don't.

Blake: [00:37:08] Most people this is a good word.

Lauren: [00:37:11] The word people.

Lauren: [00:37:13] For.

Billy: [00:37:14] Absolutely.

Lauren: [00:37:15] Do it, right.

Billy: [00:37:16] Absolutely. So that's the case, folks, Gorton versus Doty. 1937, Ohio.

Blake: [00:37:25] So this is case law today. I guess what's the lesson here is is it just that you really, really, really, really, really want to avoid agency? Relationships. I mean.

Billy: [00:37:36] I don't think there's a moral to this story, unfortunately. I mean, we just really skip over morality in law school. There isn't really a lot of that until the third year. Usually first year law students come back and it's like, oh, I read this interesting case about about a murder. Oh, my God, what's wrong with you? Just takes the morality right out of you. I think so. The point here is to understand how agency works and what are the circumstances that create agency. And to make a vivid point here that it involves certain amount of control. And I think the idea being this is the first case in the law book so that the law students all have the same reaction when you get down to it like this is not right, this seems wrong. It shouldn't have been an agency. It's pretty clear. I'd say it's pretty clear this is a wrongly decided case. And I apologize to Judge. Well, I don't know who wrote that.

Blake: [00:38:31] I remember trial.

Billy: [00:38:31] Judge. No, the appellate judge. Judge.

Curtis: [00:38:35] Judge Fudge. Judge Mudge Oh, hold them.

Billy: [00:38:38] Okay, hold on.

Blake: [00:38:39] Really, We have Judge hold them and judge Budge on the same.

Lauren: [00:38:44] Court. Yeah.

Curtis: [00:38:46] And Judge anti.

Lauren: [00:38:47] Holden like Catcher in the Rye.

Billy: [00:38:49] No, it's like catcher. It is like Catcher in the Rye. But hold on.

Curtis: [00:38:52] Oh, it is.

Billy: [00:38:52] Okay, hold on. What would be funnier? You can blame the trial court judge and Judge Holden for, you know, probably the judges are thinking the same thing. We got to give this kid some money. It goes into a whole thing about his fracture, and then they try to heal it. Using 1936.

Lauren: [00:39:07] Medical.

Billy: [00:39:09] Technology. It was a simple fracture, not a compound fracture. And they put it in a cast, but it didn't quite heal. Right. So, you know, little little Richard Gordon kind of limping around. So to Springs High School, it's a senior year, for God's sake.

Lauren: [00:39:22] Maybe he was the one that threw the Gatorade. You know what goes around?

Billy: [00:39:27] I thought we had established that there was no Gatorade in 1935.

Blake: [00:39:30] Well done. I'm looking everything else up. We're going to find.

Lauren: [00:39:33] Yes. Fact check the.

Lauren: [00:39:34] Yeah.

Blake: [00:39:35] I think it was like 1960 something. Let's see.

Curtis: [00:39:39] Yeah. 65. Yes. University of Florida College of Medicine.

Lauren: [00:39:43] Mm hmm. There it is.

Curtis: [00:39:45] Well, that had a lot of extra salt. Mm hmm.

Billy: [00:39:48] I did know that part about Gatorade. That it was in Florida.

Lauren: [00:39:51] Yeah. Right.

Billy: [00:39:52] It gave them such a huge advantage.

Lauren: [00:39:54] Because the Gators.

Blake: [00:39:55] So my takeaway from this is it is exceedingly easy to create agency without intending to do so.

Billy: [00:40:02] Yes, that's that's a really good takeaway. And that's actually a valuable valuable like if you want to apply this to life. It is extremely easy to create an agency relationship that doesn't need to be a payment of money. You don't need to hire somebody as an employee. It's really consent plus control. So if the parties are agreeing that there's a relationship where one person is doing something for another person and the person who is the principal has exerted some control over the agent, then there can be a finding of agency. And in some of the some of the later episodes, we'll get into some other ways that you can create agency even when there isn't control and there isn't consent. All you accountant listeners definitely make sure your engagement letters make this clear. Oh, and get them signed. By the way, if you haven't done so, make sure you get your engagement letters signed. There's a lot of convenient cloud based solutions that they talk about on the Cloud Accounting podcast to make sure that you get Panda Docs or Hello Sign or Adobe Sign. Get those engagement letters signed for goodness sake. Blake, do you want to. Do you want to participate in the improv or do you want to watch?

Blake: [00:41:18] Do I have a choice?

Lauren: [00:41:19] You do?

Blake: [00:41:21] I've never done improv. Well, I did a little bit of it when I was a kid. I guess they tried to get us to do it. Uh huh. Acting.

Billy: [00:41:32] Uh huh. There's one rule of improv, which is essentially accept offers. Or they sometimes they call it Yes. And or explore and heighten. So accept the reality of whatever someone says and build on it a little bit.

Blake: [00:41:45] I'm willing to try.

Billy: [00:41:46] All right. We're going to put you into a scene.

Curtis: [00:41:48] So, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, again, I would just like to point out I am not going to mention insurance. There will be no mention of insurance and any money coming from insurance. But I would like to point out that when maybe you find her guilty, maybe the money is coming from somewhere else. Just keep that in mind. Keep that in mind. Not mentioning insurance. So this this, this woman, she can handle the debt of whatever is taken on her. Whether we insure that she has the money or we don't. I'm sure you can find her liable for quite. Okay, So the judges, the judge is calling us over. Jury, if you could just wait a second. We're we're going to have just a quick little meeting.

Lauren: [00:42:46] Counselor. Yeah, I've I've told you once. I've told you a hundred times. I don't think it's fair for you to be mentioning it. Sure.

Billy: [00:42:55] It's in front of the jury. It's a there's.

Lauren: [00:42:57] A long line of cases that says you're not supposed to talk about insurance. You keep doing it. So I've got to I've got to ask you to just tone it down.

Curtis: [00:43:06] Okay. I'm going to I'm going to point out that I actually specifically said that I'm not mentioning insurance, but I Point taken.

Lauren: [00:43:14] Okay. I'm going to have to instruct the jury to avoid a mistrial.

Curtis: [00:43:18] Okay. Go for it. Go ahead.

Lauren: [00:43:20] Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you may have heard the attorney for the plaintiff refer to insurance and and not necessarily whether whether there is or isn't insurance, but. I just want to make clear. You don't pay attention to whether or not the defendant has insurance, because that's that's not proper for consideration. If we were going to talk about insurance, we would we would be using the word.

Billy: [00:43:48] Insurance and where, of course, not using the word.

Lauren: [00:43:49] Insurance, because that's that's not relevant to your consideration as to whether there is any insurance. So. Please, please, please proceed, Counselor.

Curtis: [00:44:01] Thank you so much, Judge. So, jury, if you can be assured of anything, if you have any assurances in this world, it is that whatever you find this woman liable for, however much it makes sense. Because some people, for instance, have little umbrellas If it's raining and some people have big money filled umbrellas. Catching, catching and you can put as much water on them as you want. Okay, so remember that when determining damages. Counsel Yes.

Lauren: [00:44:43] Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I need to instruct you that the plaintiff's attorneys reference to an umbrella is a metaphor for insurance. You see, many, many, many types of.

Billy: [00:44:57] Many types of insurance policies are like an umbrella in that they prepare you for a rainy day, a trial being a rainy day. And and and the money he's referring to is an insurance company paying. And so I just I want to make sure you are not to pay any attention to the metaphor of an umbrella, because the metaphor of the umbrella is suggesting that that that there is insurance, which is not something you're allowed to consider. Whether or not there's insurance, it's totally irrelevant to your consideration. So please disregard the reference to the small or large.

Lauren: [00:45:30] Umbrella.

Curtis: [00:45:32] Thank you so much, Judge. I would also like to again apologize to the jury. I know that if the defense seems to have something, I just real quick, just want to apologize to the jury for bringing up insurance and for bringing up umbrellas. I apologize for saying ka ching, ka ching. I apologize for at all making you think of the large insurance policy she likely has. I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry.

Billy: [00:45:58] Yes, Counselor. Counsel, Again, we are not we're talking about not insurance.

Curtis: [00:46:04] Yes.

Billy: [00:46:05] We're talking about not insurance, which is? We're not talking about insurance. So, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, please disregard the reference to not insurance.

Lauren: [00:46:13] Step right up, step right up. Get your assurance insurance. One day you will run out of assurance and you'll need insurance for that assurance. You, sir, you look like you could be assured.

Curtis: [00:46:25] Yes. Hell, yes. My name is Shirley.

Lauren: [00:46:29] Shirley, Don't worry. It will surely get better. You don't even need to worry about those terrible shoes you're having. I assure.

Curtis: [00:46:39] You.

Lauren: [00:46:39] One day you will have better shoes. Wait. I'm sorry. One day somebody might not tell you this. One day you may need someone else to tell you. And I.

Curtis: [00:46:48] Like my.

Lauren: [00:46:49] Shoes. Insurance is here for you.

Curtis: [00:46:51] My wife made these shoes. She's a cobbler. I'm sorry. Why are you insulting my shoes? To sell me insurance? I like these shoes.

Lauren: [00:47:00] This is a surance that you will need insurance. Be assured. So how can you be needing of insurance unless you get insulted first? Right?

Curtis: [00:47:11] Oh, I'm sorry. I thought this was insurance. So what I'm doing is I'm giving you money, and then you later on, we'll just come back and assure me that everything's okay.

Lauren: [00:47:23] And that it was a good idea to give me that money. I assure you. Look.

Curtis: [00:47:29] You know what? Let's sign up.

Lauren: [00:47:31] My son, all right? Yeah, we've got one now. And who's next? Who's next for some assurance? Insurance.

Lauren: [00:47:38] Hello. I'm very upset because my. My husband, you see him over there? He just threw my shoes that I made him in the trash. And I'm just very upset about it. I worked for weeks and weeks and weeks. As you know, I'm a cobbler. Not that not.

Billy: [00:47:55] The type of like a pie, but like a person who makes shoes.

Lauren: [00:47:58] I made shoes for him for our third anniversary, and he just threw them in the trash and threw money off you. I don't know what to say.

Lauren: [00:48:06] That's enough. I can assure you that this is to ensure that the little boy in the street who doesn't have any shoes will one day have shoes from digging through your trash. Your husband sounds like a charitable man. And you sound like you didn't measure his feet. Right. But I assure you, with this new measuring of assurance insurance, you'll be able to make better shoes.

Lauren: [00:48:34] Well, thank you so much. Here's a big bag of gold.

Lauren: [00:48:39] I assure you that was a very logistical idea. Thank you. Thank you. And you, sir? Are you. Sir, I assure you that that car that you came out of Will. Ride smoothly for the rest of your life.

Curtis: [00:49:00] This has gone on from assurances to just vague predictions of the future now.

Lauren: [00:49:06] That's the thing with assurance. It's a combination of validation and. Guessing.

Curtis: [00:49:18] Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. My stomach. Oh, my, my. I'm sorry. My stomach is acting up. Oh. Oh, I think something's happening. Oh. I. I think I'm having kidney stones or something.

Lauren: [00:49:40] Yeah.

Curtis: [00:49:41] You got nothing for me. I gave you all that money. No assurance at all. You should be. Oh, jeez.

Lauren: [00:49:47] I should probably get that checked out.

Lauren: [00:49:50] Darling, darling, I think maybe we should take you to see a doctor or something.

Lauren: [00:49:57] Well, if you're looking for a medical insurance, you'll have to talk to my partner.

Billy: [00:50:05] As I offer emergency medical insurance, we'll sell you a medical insurance as you're having an actual medical emergency. Our rates are very high, but we cover all the expenses of your hospitalization. So it appears you are having kidney stones.

Curtis: [00:50:21] Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So I didn't want to go in because the doctor said it would be at least $500.

Billy: [00:50:28] That's no problem. We can cover that, doctor. Bill, you'll just need to pay our $10,000 premium.

Curtis: [00:50:36] Oh, oh, I would. Why would I. Oh, why would I do that?

Billy: [00:50:40] Well, with medical insurance, we pay your bills. So all you need to do is pay for your emergency medical insurance and will pay that doctor Bill.

Lauren: [00:50:51] Well, it looks like somebody needs insurance.

Curtis: [00:50:54] Insurance? Yes, that's right. Unexplained insurance bills could come up at any time. And who's going to pay those? You another insurance person? No. Just give me $11,000 and I'll gladly pay my friend over here the $10,000 he needs. That's right. Insurance. Insurance. So you can be assured that you will surely be fine.

Lauren: [00:51:19] Oh, thank you so much.

Billy: [00:51:20] I did need some insurance. Insurance?

Lauren: [00:51:22] After all, I'm on.

Billy: [00:51:24] The hook for $500 now that I've sold this 10,000 medical policy, so I'll gladly sell it to you for 11,000.

Lauren: [00:51:35] Sure you bought insurance, but did you buy insurance to be at the seashore? Sure. Insurance is surely the way to get your insurance. Surely better by seeing the seashore when you are insured. Call now to be insured by the seashore. Care of Jersey Shore. Honey, did you see that ad? I know we have life insurance and medical insurance and car insurance? Yeah, homeowner's insurance and pet insurance and assurance insurance. But I really like some seashore insurance.

Billy: [00:52:17] I think shore insurance is a great idea, darling. Maybe we'll go to the shore for a vacation or something. We want it to be insured when we go to the shore.

Lauren: [00:52:27] Right. Well, anything could happen there. You could sink into the sand and never come back up.

Billy: [00:52:33] You could be bitten by a sand crab or a naughty, naughty oyster.

Lauren: [00:52:39] You could be attacked by a flock of seagulls. If you eat a Taco Bell sandwich.

Billy: [00:52:43] You could slip into on a slippery rock and stub your toe.

Lauren: [00:52:50] You could look at a fish and forget to breathe and then just drown.

Lauren: [00:52:55] Right there. You could eat a hot dog and decide to chop off your fingers and sell them.

Lauren: [00:53:01] S top dogs.

Lauren: [00:53:03] Exactly. Anything can happen.

Lauren: [00:53:04] Can eat a finger. Hot dog. Think it was a regular hot dog.

Lauren: [00:53:07] And then you would get a stomach ache.

Billy: [00:53:09] Yes. And choke. And then you would need medical insurance.

Lauren: [00:53:13] Well, you could break a tooth trying to fight through a finger bone that you thought was just a hard, hot dog.

Billy: [00:53:20] So many things could happen at the shore.

Lauren: [00:53:22] So many things.

Lauren: [00:53:25] Surely we should get that insurance.

Lauren: [00:53:28] Poppa. Oh, yes, Chester, come on in.

Billy: [00:53:30] We're just talking about insurance.

Lauren: [00:53:33] I wish. I wish that I could. I could go with you to the shore. Well, absolutely, youngster.

Billy: [00:53:39] You're just going to need to grow three or four more inches. Here. Have another.

Lauren: [00:53:42] Hot dog. But. But my leg, Papa. Oh, your leg will get better. Here. Have another hot dog. Oh, okay. Thank you, Papa. That's delicious.

Lauren: [00:53:54] You know, the best thing for a broken leg is probably swimming on a rocky, sandy, crunchy beach.

Lauren: [00:54:02] Yes, Swimming immediately after eating processed meat.

Lauren: [00:54:08] Yes. And being attacked by crabs.

Lauren: [00:54:13] Chester, why don't you go jump in the pool now that you've. I'm sure that if you.

Billy: [00:54:18] Swim with your broken leg.

Lauren: [00:54:21] It'll be fine. Okay. It kind of hurts, Papa, but I'll try.

Lauren: [00:54:28] And Chester.

Lauren: [00:54:30] Yes.

Lauren: [00:54:30] Mother wears some floaties in case the cast sinks like a stone. We want your arms to be able to breathe and sing.

Billy: [00:54:38] That brings us to the end of this week's legal voyage. And I want to thank you for joining me, your captain, on this earmark edition of.

Lauren: [00:54:45] Laying Down the Law.

Billy: [00:54:47] I'd like to thank my crew, Lauren, Blake and Curtis, for joining me on this journey into madness. And listener, I'd like to thank you for coming along with us. Wherever you are, you're also here while you're there via the magic of earmarks. Cpe. I'd also like to thank the OG cello performance CPA Blake Oliver for building earmarks CPE the mighty little app.

Lauren: [00:55:11] That makes learning fun.

Billy: [00:55:14] And free. Mostly free.

Lauren: [00:55:16] But now you can subscribe. Isn't that right, Blake?

Blake: [00:55:19] That's right, Billy.

Billy: [00:55:20] And speaking of mighty, thank you to the mighty Q Quentin Fichtner for the mighty cover Art.

Lauren: [00:55:26] Thank you for the opportunity, Billy and the listeners want some cool art of your own. You can find me my pro dot com.

Billy: [00:55:33] Thank you to David Felton for creating the awesome all original music. And a special thank you to.

Lauren: [00:55:42] Jeff at Fight Productions. Hey, that's me. Yes, Jeff, that is you. Thank you, Jeff, for making a little boy's radio show. Dreams into a middle Aged.

Billy: [00:55:54] Man's podcast's reality. So until next time.

Speaker1: [00:56:00] Wait, what's this? You forgot something.

Billy: [00:56:03] What's that? I forgot something you say?

Speaker1: [00:56:05] Yeah. You got to do the thing. You know the thing.

Lauren: [00:56:08] All right. If you want even more of that delicious little.

Billy: [00:56:13] Nut butter drenched in comedy.

Lauren: [00:56:15] Chocolate, find the full version of this and every amazing episode of laying down the law at dotcom or wherever.

Billy: [00:56:23] In the metaverse, you get.

Lauren: [00:56:25] Your podcasts.

Speaker1: [00:56:26] That's fit. E procom. Find your productions is not responsible for the preceding comments related to nut butter. If you or someone you know experiences nausea, third eye blindness, sudden onset euphoria, or have an unrelenting craving for ham, seek help immediately. Laying down the law is protected by the Intergalactic Treaty of Euripides. Start 82182190. If you'd like a transcript of the show, please send a self-addressed stamped envelope to Colonel Steve Austin, Kirov, the Foundation for Law and Government. Two, two, one A Baker Street, Beverly Hills 90210. Any likeness to real places, persons or events is absolutely happenstance. We'd never intentionally crib real life happenings to make a podcast. We're not true crime after all. It's more likely a situation similar to the chimpanzees, typewriters and Shakespeare, Right? That's what attorney Steve says anyway. And if you know what's good for you, you listen to Attorney Steve. I don't argue with Attorney Steve mostly because he ain't right in the head and quite honestly frightens me a little bit. The last time we went to court, the judge started asking him all kinds of weird questions, like, where did you study law and why hasn't the state bar of California ever heard of you? Then attorney Steve started doing this weird, deep breathing meditation kind of thing and muttering under his breath about a monster drug fight and how the judge ain't got nothing on a £15,000, 2000 horsepower fire breathing death, age on wheels, and then the L.A. Heat running with his taser. And honestly, that's the truth. Steve, come with me. It was only traffic, for God's sake.

Lauren: [00:57:40] I can't talk.

[00:57:41] To you the moment.