21 Times Lawyers Won Cases Using Seriously Obscure Laws

If you already think the justice system is a sham, this won’t help
21 Times Lawyers Won Cases Using Seriously Obscure Laws

When How I Met Your Mother unleashed the interjection “Lawyered!” upon an unsuspecting populace, they knew that we would understand it to mean the application of technicalities and semantics to win an argument or bring someone around to your side. That’s pretty much what lawyers do — read many, many, many legal papers to make sure they know all the precedents and regulations relevant to your case to get the best outcome for your client. It’s the worst.

But once you’ve been doing it a while, it’s pretty simple most of the time. Either a law has been demonstrably broken or it hasn’t, and all you need to do is minimize or maximize the damage, depending on which table you’re sitting at. Sometimes, though, you get to pull a hilariously obscure statute or 200-year-old ruling out of your ass and feel like a god. That’s what happened to the lawyers who responded when user thejoms asked r/AskReddit, “Lawyers/Solicitors, what is the strangest or oddest law that’s won a case for you?”

elephantsonparody Зу ago I won a case on an appeal because the state must show the nexus of harm between drug usage and harm to the child... simple usage and all positive drug tests not enough for state to win the appeal. Child returned to parents who are actively using and refusing treatment. I quit that area of law the next week. I won my case yes, but at what cost?
Зу ago If you are a fugitive of the law in California, i.e., if you have a warrant out for you, your civil case is subject to dismissal. Не never saw it coming.
elendur Зу ago Had a case where my defendant/opponent filed an appeal from an administrative agency to the local Circuit Court. The requirements for filing the appeal are very strict, and the filing must include an appeal bond, executed by the individual defendant, or a corporate officer. When my opponent ('s assistant) electronically filed the appeal, she attached a .pdf of the bond without the corporate signature. There's no question in my mind they had the bond with the requisite signature, and simply attached the wrong version of the document to the filing. Wish I could say there was a
cawlaw84 Зу ago I once had a client who woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of someone in his home. Не retrieved a Colt 1911 from a bedside drawer, walked into his living room and confronted a figure in the dark. The person didn't identify himself but moved towards my client who fired a single shot that went through the person's shoulder. Turned out it was my client's stepson who had snuck out, been drinking underage, and stumbled home. The problem with the situation was that my client was a convicted felon. Several times over.
Kivioq21 Зу ago Edited Зу ago In Florida we used a really old writ from English common law called the Writ of Error coram nobis to overturn old convictions that couldn't otherwise be attacked (That's a simplistic explanation, it's actually more complex than that but...). These writs originated in England in the 1500's, came to the US with English common law, and remained the law after the revolution. In some states you can still use them. An enterprising lawyer I knew who was also a medieval legal scholar figured this out, and we started filing these motions based on the
jhbham Зу ago I had one where a client was contesting a will. Halfway through the case, the other side argued that my client was set to inherit less without the will (if we won) than she would with it (if we lost) and argued she lacked standing to attack the will. The decedent had a very old will that benefited our client's deceased mother, but that will had been revoked. We found a very old doctrine in a footnote to something else entirely and argued to the judge that the law assumes you'd rather die with an old, revoked
Overlord1317 Зу ago Early in my career I had a fairly minor case in which my client's neighbor cut down a bunch of shrubs and small trees bordering their properties because they blocked his view. This really irritated my client as he wanted his privacy. Now, the monetary damages were actually not that much and this was looking like a case that really couldn't be economically litigated for what the client could afford. However, in researching the issue I found a rather obscure law that provides for attorneys' fees to a winning Plaintiff when a Defendant has willfully damaged the
pm_cheesecakes Зу ago Statue made it a crime to build structures in the park (ie homeless tents). My guy gets picked up. With zero prep I get up, look at the statute, and see there's an exception; if they have the governors, mayors, or parks dept permission. I said the ticket didn't say they checked for permission and they won't be able to prove that so it should be dismissed for lack of probable cause-judge (who hated the criminalization of poverty) threw it out!
chuck-u_farley Зу ago Contrary to popular perception, the legal system does not involve a hunt for some arcane law that lets you win with this one simple trick. The closest I have ever come to that--and it was a complete aberration-- was a complex dispute over the validity of a mortgage note with a bank. One of the issues was whether there was sufficient consideration (something of value) exchanged for the note. I dug up an old case that said if the mortgage contract was sealed, consideration was presumed. And sure a shit, the contract had (seal) written after each
kwignaman Зу ago This will get buried and is rather technical but! I used the UK international private law (at the time subject to the corresponding EU regulations if I remember right) to argue that a gift made in NYC should be governed by French law, and as a result that the intention to gift was presumed. Under the other sets of laws potential applicable, this was the only one offering this presumption (the intention to give is not presumed under most of the common law derived legal systems I know of). There.
tomthecamel Зу ago I had a case where a guy was charged for running a red light. The thing is, he had been sitting at the lights for 5 minutes and it hadn't changed. The wording of the specific section under which he was charged related to stop signs and traffic lights and referred to them as traffic regulation devices. I successfully argued that as the traffic light wasn't changing, it wasn't regulating traffic and he got off. I couldn't believe it when the judge ruled in my favour, neither could the police prosecutor!
TuskaTheDaemonKilla Зу ago Had a client who was a truck driver. Не got various penal infractions for issues with his truck. Several thousand dollars in fines basically. Anyway, the evidence is pretty damning. Lots of pictures showing defects, detailed description by the traffic control officer, and so on. However, to find him guilty the prosecutor technically has to prove that the vehicle he was driving is considered a heavy vehicle. The law says: (3) heavy vehicle means (a) a road vehicle or combination of road vehicles, within the meaning of the Highway Safety Code, having a gross vehicle weight rating
brolin_on_dubs Зу ago I had a client with a serious medical problem that cost her her job, and she was preparing to file bankruptcy on the medical bills and credit card debts. Thing was, she had like $15,000 socked away and didn't tell me. It was all that was left of her life savings. Before we filed her case she gave it to her mom for safe keeping. What she didn't know is that she could have kept the money through the bankruptcy... but giving it away beforehand is a no-no. I had to tell the court when I found
astroboy37 Зу ago Here in Texas if you get in an accident on a public road with someone that you are related to by a certain degree of closeness (such as a sibling) as the driver, you can't sue them unless the crash was intentional or essentially reckless. It is a decades old statute that doesn't get trotted out terribly much at all but I coincidentally stumbled on it and it managed to be the saving grace for a client who was being sued by his in laws for a crash while taking them to the airport.
mlesquire Зу ago Edited Зу ago I once argued and won a trespass to chattels case while having a practice license in law school. I did that thing where you cite a case that was the source for the source for the source. Turns out the piece of property being discussed in this very old Tennessee case was a person. A slave. I read the case for the first time sitting at counsel table before I stood up to argue. Downplayed that one.
ClusterMakeLove Зу ago So at least where I live, gifts given in contemplation of marriage are conditional on the marriage taking place. So practically, if I give you an engagement ring and you break off the wedding, you have to return the ring. You might get to keep it if I'm the one to break it off. This is one of those patterns they teach in law school as a silly, relatable situation that gets you used to reading law, but will it never come up in real life. Well it came up. Someone was charged with robbing his ex-fiancee
Зу ago God Bless the statute of limitations. My client waited until the statute almost ran out (3 years) on a Wage Hour case: wrongful term/FMLA. I was able to secure a tolling agreement and basically get him 3 years of lost wages x2 for economic harm caused I actually didn't charge him
HarryPFlashman Зу ago Virginia divorce: female spouse was cheating on well off male spouse. Man found out started divorce proceeding and women found out she would get no spousal support. She did however find out about a concept called condonation, which means if you sleep with someone after knowing they committed adultery, you have forgiven them and can get spousal support. Well one night of text messages and a few photos confirmed it, and client received a lucrative spousal settlement based on the new information.
onlyseekinginfo Зу ago I got a pro bono client's removal by USCIS cancelled. Не had a low-level drug possession conviction from the early 1980s. During that brief period, the active ingredient of Imodium was illegal under state law but not federal law. So I successfully argued that they couldn't prove it wasn't a conviction for possession of a substance that was federally legal at the time, and as such was not subject to removal. The argument worked and my guy went back to his business and his family.
thelawfulchaotic Зу ago Edited Зу ago Once won a case that forbade the possession or transport of human urine in order to adulterate a urine screen. It wasn't human urine. It was fake lab made urine from a website.
Зу ago Edited Зу ago In both Washington and Oregon, a police officer has reasonable suspicion to make a stop if he hears about someone committing a felony from another officer, but can only develop reasonable suspicion for a misdemeanor if he witnesses the alleged crime personally. The other thing to keep in mind is that police officers are trained to always say based on my personal expertise and training which judges will basically allow to apply to anything. It doesn't even mean anything anymore, it's just a code phrase police use instinctively. So an Oregon officer arrests our

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