{"id":232,"date":"2008-07-14T14:27:11","date_gmt":"2008-07-14T18:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madkane.com\/madness\/2008\/07\/14\/ode-to-judge-ronald-leighton\/"},"modified":"2008-07-14T14:36:46","modified_gmt":"2008-07-14T18:36:46","slug":"ode-to-judge-ronald-leighton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.madkane.com\/madness\/2008\/07\/14\/ode-to-judge-ronald-leighton\/","title":{"rendered":"Ode To Judge Ronald Leighton"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>U.S. District Judge Ronald Leighton\u00a0(Tacoma, Washington)\u00a0made a <a href=\"http:\/\/seattletimes.nwsource.com\/html\/localnews\/2008033157_funnyjudge04m.html\">big splash<\/a> recently when he <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.wsj.com\/law\/2008\/07\/08\/judge-lambastes-lawyer-filing-with-limerick\/\">lambasted a legal filing with a limerick.<\/a> What prompted him to wax poetic?\u00a0\u00a0 A 465-page complaint in a racketeering lawsuit\u00a0failed to comply with a federal rule (FRCP 8(a)) requiring legal complaints to be &#8220;a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Judge Leighton dismissed the complaint and directed attorney Dean Browning Webb to refile it, in an order that included this limerick.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Plaintiff has a great deal to say,<br \/>\nBut it seems he skipped Rule 8(a).<br \/>\nHis Complaint is too long,<br \/>\nWhich renders it wrong,<br \/>\nPlease rewrite and refile today.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Although Judge Leighton&#8217;s limerick meter is a bit spotty in the first two lines, I think His Honor&#8217;s poetic effort deserves a poem in &#8230; uh &#8230; his honor:<\/p>\n<p>Ode To Judge Ronald Leighton<br \/>\nBy Madeleine Begun Kane<\/p>\n<p>Attorneys are often verbose,<br \/>\nPenning legal complaints grandiose,<br \/>\nWriting hundreds pages<br \/>\nAnd setting off rages<br \/>\nFrom those who find wordiness gross.<\/p>\n<p>But Judge Leighton showed major restraint<br \/>\nWhen he ruled on an endless complaint.<br \/>\nIn a limerick poem<br \/>\nHe said, redo this tome<br \/>\nCuz in 8(a)\u00a0compliance it ain&#8217;t![tags]Judge Ronald Leighton, FRCP Rule 8(a), Federal Rules Humor, Judicial Humor, Courthouse Verse, Litigation Humor, Racketeering Lawsuit,\u00a0Poetry, Dean Browning Webb, Legal Complaint[\/tags]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>U.S. District Judge Ronald Leighton\u00a0(Tacoma, Washington)\u00a0made a big splash recently when he lambasted a legal filing with a limerick. What prompted him to wax poetic?\u00a0\u00a0 A 465-page complaint in a racketeering lawsuit\u00a0failed to comply with a federal rule (FRCP 8(a)) requiring legal complaints to be &#8220;a short and plain statement of the claim showing that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[169,10,168],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.madkane.com\/madness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.madkane.com\/madness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.madkane.com\/madness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.madkane.com\/madness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.madkane.com\/madness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.madkane.com\/madness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.madkane.com\/madness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.madkane.com\/madness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.madkane.com\/madness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}