Monday, August 31, 2009

United States ex rel. Gerald Mayo v. Satan and His Staff

No, I am not making this up:

United States ex rel. Gerald Mayo v. Satan and His Staff, 54 F.R.D. 282 (1971), was a court case in which a man attempted to sue Satan. It was dismissed on a technicality.

In the suit, Gerald Mayo filed a claim before the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania alleging that "Satan has on numerous occasions caused plaintiff misery and unwarranted threats, against the will of plaintiff, that Satan has placed deliberate obstacles in his path and has caused plaintiff's downfall" and had therefore "deprived him of his constitutional rights".

The technicality was that the plaintiff had not included instructions for how the U.S. Marshal could serve process on Satan.

United States ex rel. Gerald Mayo v. Satan and His Staff, 54 F.R.D. 282 (1971)

NOTE: 54 FRD 282 means Volume 54 of the Federal Rules Decisions (big law books), page 282.

I love the "...and His Staff" part!

2 comments:

sleepyrn said...

His divinely given rights, maybe, but constitutional?????

Jay Noel said...

You know why there's only a little "stairway to heaven" yet an entire "highway to hell?"

I think there's more traffic to Hades.