Thursday, September 8, 2011

World's Worst Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings?



I must admit I'm no fan of motions for judgment on the pleadings.

Although I can appreciate their merit in certain situations, oftentimes they are used like "gotcha" moves in a chess match, preying upon technical or innocent errors that are not usually very substantive and which can (and should) be readily fixed in an amended pleading.

For that reason they can be timewasters, and thus frequently pointless.

Judge King seems to have encountered one of the type I'm complaining about:

(1) We have a premature "shotgun pleading" allegation that winds up making you look bad (instead of your opponent); and

(2) We have an Albert Brooksian "look only at paragraph 22 72" argument that asks the Court to ignore entirely the rest of the well-pled allegations in the complaint.

Other than that, I think the motion could be described as a qualified success.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Aegis' remaining arguments hone in on a single paragraph . . . ." It's "home in," people. This kills me.

On another note, does Judge King always list that many people on his service list?

Anonymous said...

The phrase hone in can be used to mean narrow to a point, or focus attention on, and is appropriate.

Fake W.S. said...

"Hone in" is more appropriate a metaphor than "home in." "Home in" tends to be associated with a physical location, while "hone in" is more proper for a intangible location, such as an argument.

Anonymous said...

22...22....22....!!

Anonymous said...

"Hone in" is dead wrong.

Anonymous said...

FROM Merriam-Webster:The few commentators who have noticed hone in consider it to be a mistake for home in. It may have arisen from home in by the weakening of the \m\ sound to \n\ or may perhaps simply be due to the influence of hone. Though it seems to have established itself in American English (and mention in a British usage book suggests it is used in British English too), your use of it especially in writing is likely to be called a mistake. Home in or in figurative use zero in does nicely.

Anonymous said...

Classic classic bottom feeder move. You civil guys really make me laugh.

9:35 a.m., with no leader dots goes to the end of the MW quote. Here is the beginning:

"hone in

verb

Definition of HONE IN

intransitive verb

: to move toward or focus attention on an objective 'looking back for the ball honing in — George Plimpton' 'a missile honing in on its target — Bob Greene' 'hones in on the plights and victories of the common man — Lisa Russell'..."

Stick to County Court against pro se defendants.

* Please note - Whatever " < " are, were replaced with " ' " so this could post.

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