Home visitors: beware of backyards in the dark

Maybe we should all watch our steps when visiting other peoples’ homes after dark. At least that’s what one recent case suggests. A mother and her son were guests of a married couple. As the visitors attempted to leave in the evening through their hosts’ back door, the son fell down a flight of steps and impaled himself... More

In Pursuit of the Trivial: Martians, Porn, Satan and Snakes

• A self-proclaimed Martian who tried to sue the CIA was not allowed to do so because by his own admission he wasn’t a “person” and thus had no basis to be a plaintiff under federal law. • A woman with the unfortunate name of Mary Jo Porn had her name legally — and understandably — changed in 2001. • A federal case against “Satan and... More

Brushing up on hisotry of the comb-over

A federal judge in Florida once ordered two bickering attorneys to play “rock, paper, scissors” on the courthouse steps to resolve a dispute about where to hold a deposition. The “comb-over” was patented in 1977. It is illegal to molest butterflies in Pacific Grove, Calif. A second-grade teacher has sued to get her job back after she was... More

Was she stoned? Woman marries Berlin Wall

A farmer who married someone he met on the Internet has asked for the marriage to be annulled after finding out that his bride, Randy Victoria, is actually a man named Ralf. In happier news, a woman with a “bizarre fetish for inanimate objects” has been legally married to the Berlin Wall for 29 years. God is not mentioned anywhere in the U.S.... More

No diplomatic immunity for wife of ‘ambassador of soul’

The “Extra-Terrestrial Exposure Law” has nothing to do with pervs from outer space. Rather, it authorizes a quarantine for astronauts who come within the “atmospheric envelope of any other celestial body.” One of the wives of legendary R&B artist James Brown once tried to beat traffic charges by claiming she was entitled to diplomatic immunity on the basis of her marriage to the “ambassador of soul.” In Baltimore, it’s illegal to take a lion to the movies. A German woman is suing... More