Legion World Forums LEGION OUTPOST Mission Monitor Board Quislet's Super Law Firm...of Space!

Very interested! Trials are better when they're funny and silly !

Well Trial Practice was set up in a courtroom at the law school. Basically we were given case information (witness statements, evidence, etc.) and would be assigned to either examine or cross-examine a witness (played by another classmate)

One of the first witnesses I had to examine was the victim of a purse snatching. Within the case information we were told that when the defendant was captured, the victim was shown his, and only his, mug shot. (Not good for identification purposes). I and a couple of other students went up for questions after class. The professor (a retired judge) said that we would have to come up with another means of getting the identification before the jury. So I thought about it.

When my turn came to examine the witness, I said "Ms. Gale, do you see the man who attacked you on the night in question?" "Could you point him out?" "Your Honor, may the record show that the witness pointed to the defendant"

One of my classmates later said that as I was doing that, he thought it sounded hokey. However the professor made a point about how important in court identifications are and how juries eat them up.

My other big moment in Trial Practice was at the end of the semester. We were to examine and cross-examine an expert witness.

Now by this time in the semester, quite a few of the students were leaving the class as soon as they had done their bit and not staying for the professor's comments. In preparing us for the expert witness, the professor said that as the side calling the expert, you had to establish the witness's credentials (education & professional experience) and that you should go throough it even if the other side would stipulate to the credentials because "juries eat up that stuff".

So, I was the side to cross-exam the expert. When my classmate started in on the asking about credentials, I interrupted and said that I was willing to stipulate that the witness was an expert. My classmate, who hadn't stay in the previous class, said "Great, now I don't have to ask these questions" and started to turn to his other questions. The professor interrupted and again stated how important it was to establish the credentials of the expert witness.

I did maintain my composure, but inside I was like "YES!!!!!!"

Ha, good stories Quis! Trial Practice seems like it was one of the fun parts of being trained as a lawyer, something that I'm sure could use a few more fun aspects

Sits in office, feet on the desk waiting for more clients.

Thumbs through old issues of the Legion

The Lost Legionnaires came back after one year and demanded their back pay. According to them, they didn't know the Legion had been disbanded and were operating under the assumption that they were still on Legion business, fulfilling our mission of bringing peace and security to all sentients.

However, some administration people say that they shouldn't be paid for the time they weren't here; nobody else was. (The people helping to build Legion World and keep it hidden were paid out of R.J. Brande's personal fortune that he had squirreled away in some golden parachute deal with McCauley.) Who's right?

Hmmm an Employment law/contracts question.

Wait: Wasn't the Legion already disbanded before the star gate explosion that got them lost? That being the case, they did have knowledge of their termination and therefore would not be entitled to back pay.

For the sake of argument, let's assume that the Lost Legionnaires did not know of the Legion being disbanded. Now we can procede with your question.

First we would have to find out if the Legionnaires were contract employees or employees-at-will. If they were contract employees, then the contract terms would decide the matter. Although I doubt this scenario would have been covered in the contract. But then again, given the resurrection rate for superheroes, it just might be a standard clause in superhero employment contracts.

As an employee-at-will, the employee can quit at any time with no notice needed, but the employer can also fire the employee at any time for cause or no cause.

Now given that they were employees-at-will, the employer, the United Planets, could argue that they were terminated when the Legion was disbanded. That they weren't notified of termination is irrelevant, because they were declared dead. Because the employer was within their right to terminate, they would not be liable for the "back pay".

The Legionnaires don't really have much of an argument. They can not say that they relied on their employment to their detriment because 1) as employees-at-will, they could have been fired at any time and 2) they did not turn down any other offers of employment due to their supposed employment by the United Planets. It could also be further argued that they were operating outside of the scope of their employment in that their employment was to defend the United Planets from danger and they were operating outside of the United Planets and were not working for the United Planet's interests, but their own interest in returning to the UP.

I also don't see a public policy exception in this case. They were not wrongfully terminated due to discrimination or because they were exercising their civil rights.


So, as much as I would want the Legionnaires to be paid, I don't see them being able to put forth a reasonable argument on why they should be paid.

**Purr**

How do we get all Dogs Banned from Legion World?

**Purr**

This would be a matter for the legislature or a popular referendum.

You would need to either get the Legion World legisalture to pass a law banning dogs or you can try to get an amendment added to the Legion World Constitution which would ban dogs.

Either way appears to entail much hard work and no guarantee of success.

Mr. Q, Esq I hope you can keep this confidential. I am a member of a group, and when election time came, the leader nominated me to be the next leader and lobbied on my behalf. Perhaps even strong-armed the other members to vote for me. Some time after that, he invited me to supper; it was all very innocent and friendly. But then he showed up at my quarters late one night and said, "Jazzy, it's time to pay up and put out." I was horrified but felt so pressured to comply with his demands, that I gave in and slept with him. Now my powers are malfunctioning, I believe from the stress of this situation. I'm so distressed. What are my options? Can I file a harassment complaint against him?

Who owns the name "Legion of Super-Heroes"? Yes, DC in our universe, but what about in the Legion's universe?

Suppose half the team had a disagreement over the team's purpose, their compensation, or the allotment of pluberry desserts, and decided to split off from the main group and form their own Legion. For argument's sake, let's say that one of the two remaining founders, Saturn Girl or Cosmic Boy, went with this faction. (We won't include "Jarth" since we don't know what his official status is at the moment.) Which half of the Legion could continue to call itself Legion of Super-Heroes -- the half that "stays" or the half that "goes"? And if both Cos and Saturn Girl both left, could they legally force the others to stop using the name?

I believe that if both Cos and Imra left, the remaining members would have to call themselves "Starship".

Have you seen the stars tonight? Would you like to go out an A-Deck and look at them with me?

Ken

It does sound like you have the makings of a sexual harassment case. You would need to come in and provide more details (your prior relationship with him, the dates of the election and the incident, etc.) Then we can go over what options you have, what your objectives are, and the likelihood of achieving your objectives through the court system or alternative dispute resolution (ADR) like mediation.

I imagine that it is like the ownership of a band's name as suggested by Outdoor Miner.

Unfortunately I am totally unfamiliar with the law that would apply in such a case.

If any of the other legal minds here have the answer, please feel free to post.

Proty II,

Welcome to Legion World. It is always good to see new people around here. There are many great threads to read and post to. The premiere thread to flirt in is Shakes, a fine drinking establishment. (Harbringer pounds out great songs on the piano there) You might also want to try out the Beacon too.

As this is an office, I like to keep the flirting to a minimum. Feel free to ask any legal related question here. I try to answer all questions to the best of my ability.

Disclaimer time: I don't offer legal opinions or advice here. You need to consult a local attorney for that.

The specifics of what power the elected Legion World leader have never been laid out. If the leader were to harrass the founders of Legion World, resulting in his being "BANNED!", could he, as the elected leader, find some way to use his ambiguous power to stop this banning? Do we have the possibility of a potential dictatorship on our hands? Do we need a Legion World Senate?

Well seeing as the Leader's powers are unspecified, it is impossible to state whether he/she has a power to stop said banning.

It would be well advised to remember that in the layers of reality we call Legion World, the ultimate reality is that this is private property and we are here as invited guests and that said invitation can be revoked at any time for any reason or no reason.

Beyond that it is also well advised to remember the word of Ma Quislet. "You can attract more quarks with positive polarity than with a singularity!"

I really prefer fantasy cases, but here's a question from real life.

I drove by a gas station yesterday, and the prices posted on the sign all read 0.0, on both sides. Now if I had gone and filled up the tank, could I have claimed that I thought it was free gas, maybe a promotional deal? Assuming there was a price reading on the meter where you actually fill up, which price would have been considered the right one? What if the price on the meters also read 0.0? Would I be told that I should know that gas is not free, and that the standard price in the region is 78.9/litre?

(In a grocery store, if there is a dispute about price, you get the lower price. If there is a scanning error, you get the item for free. I don't know if that is a law, or just a policy adopted by most large stores.)

I should point out here that Proty II is actually quoting lyrics from the Jefferson Starship number "Have You Seen The Stars", which is undoubtedly in reference to the lame Starship bit I had posted above.

Don't you want somebody to love?

"Suppose half the team had a disagreement over the team's purpose, their
compensation, or the allotment of pluberry desserts, and decided to split off from
the main group and form their own Legion. "

This isn't the same situation, but similar: there were two political parties in Canada, the Alliance and the Progressive Conservatives. Alliance had been a spin-off from the PCs and last year there was a move to recombine. A faction of the Conservatives was absolutely opposed and went to court to try and stop the merger. I don't know the details of the case (and part of the problem was that they got to court too late to really do anything), but basically it worked out like this. If the majority of delegates to a conference voted in favour of the merger, it was okay, regardless of what the leader had originally promised (no merger) or what the constitution said. The majority voted yes, and the new party has become The Conservative Party.

That's not exactly the same name, so "legally" it may avoid problems, but most people never used the Progressive label anyways, just called them the Conservatives - or the PCs (by which "Progressive" would be understood).

So my uneducated guess would be that if the majority of the old group split off, and some judge blessed the whole deal, the new group could do as they please. Or take a name so similar as to be one in the same for the general public. Then the countersuits could begin.

I understand the analogy of the Legion to a rock band, but I wonder if the same situation would apply.

Rock bands are commercial enterprises that usually comprise five or six individuals. When one of them claims ownership of the name (as has happened to Pink Floyd, Jefferson Starship, the Byrds, and more bands than any sane individual would care to count), the matter is often decided by whatever their original contracts specified, or some other indication of creatorship/ownership. Paul Kantner of Jefferson Starship argued that he owned that name because he had used it for a solo project long before the group existed. (He ultimately settled out of court with the then current band members.)

But the Legion as an organization is more akin to the United States Army or the New York City Police Department. I guess the answer to the question of ownership would be similar (e.g., the U.S. government and the city of New York, probably, own those respective names). So, perhaps the government of the United Planets owns the Legion's name.

Which would mean President Winema could fire everybody and hire the Oversight Watch to be the new Legion!

The price on the pump would probably prevail in a dispute over the price. The most persuasive argument for the station owner is that it is known that gas is not given away for free.

IF there is no price listed, a judge would probably decide that the price needs to be the average price in the area.

The thing with the stores giving the lowest price or a mis-scanned item free, does sound like a store policy.

Taking it easy at the office today.

*Put's feet on desk. Takes a sip of that delicious Cramer's Cafe blend coffee. Opens the newspaper and see what's happening*