Law Religion Culture Review

Exploring the intersections of law, religion and culture. Copyright by Richard J. Radcliffe. All rights reserved.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Curiouser and Curiouser.

Earlier, I litigated massive product liability cases. The cases often turned on the application of forum non conveniens. In sum, this doctrine presents factors for judges to determine whether the case should be transferred to another jurisdiction in the interests of justice (not mere convenience).

Counterintuitively, plaintiffs labored to have the case heard away their domiciles in the forum where the manufacturer resided. Conversely, the manufacturer fought to have the case transferred to the plaintiff's home court, often a foreign country.

On the surface, this seemed curious. Alice in Wonderland's famous line, "Curiouser and curiouser", received common quotation in the briefs. However, each side had its own subtextual motivations, such as application of more favorable law in the target jurisdiction and disruption of the other side's agenda.

Isn't it ironic that the so-called stealth candidate, Harriet Miers, has the clearest, most verifiable record against abortion of any recent nominee to the High Court?

Now, this disclosure will makes for some interesting contortions, much like those experienced in the forum non conveniens litigations. The left and the right might reverse their initial positions and oppose/support her depending on her obvious opposition to abortion.

Seems like a game of musical chairs might be in the offing.