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Durham's Punctuation Thesis

By K.C. Johnson

Durham attorneys have made another filing?in the process, of course, upping the ?defense costs? under which the city?s insurance policy kicks in and Durham loses its qualified immunity?reiterating the city?s demand to toss out all state claims. The filing is a peculiar one. City attorneys Reginald Gillespie and Roger Warin admit that they filed a factually incorrect brief, omitting a comma when quoting the city?s insurance policy. The omission distorted the meaning of the city?s policy but had the convenient effect of exactly aligning the city?s policy with that of a recent North Carolina (Pettiford) decision that upheld a city?s immunity claim. Remarkably, Gillespie and Warin don?t apologize. Instead, they mock the lacrosse players? attorneys for pointing out their error, and reiterate their original argument as if they hadn?t filed a brief containing a significant factual error...continue to full post

Full post as published by Durham-in-Wonderland on December 15, 2008 (boomark / email).