Why Did the Court Do That?

Sometimes you hear of a court case and immediately say "WHAT???"

Just think of the McDonalds Coffee Case, where the little old lady spilled coffee in the drive thru and sued McDonalds for Millions of Dollars and was eventually awarded 8 Million Dollars. WHAT???

Then there is this case out of New York. 

Read opinion (NY Unified Courts @ www.nycourts.gov)

Brett M.D. v. Elizabeth A.D.
972 N.Y.S.2d 36
(New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, October 1, 2013)

             Regardless of the mother's allegations against the father regarding domestic violence and sexual abuse of the child, the Appellate Court found the proper venue was New York, not Florida where the Mother and Child were currently living. WHAT??? These incidents allegedly occurred in New York, the father had agreed to pay the child's travel expenses to New York for the proceedings and any related evaluations, and, whenever feasible, the court would permit mother to appear at proceedings telephonically from Florida, at little expense to her. WHAT??? Ok, the mother had moved to Florida with the child just one month before the father filed a custody case in New York, where the child was born and had lived most of his life. When you have all the facts the court reviewed, and not just the headlines from the paper, the answer may become more reasonable. Or not.

As attorneys, we are sometimes prevented from showing the court ALL THE FACTS. Sometimes "fact" is actually Opinion, and may even be biased. One side's view of facts is always distorted toward their view of the entire case. The other side doesn't want the "fact" interpreted a certain way, and expresses its Opinion of the reason for the "Fact" being presented . . . at Trial, anything can happen.

Oh, back to the McDonalds case. There were many facts that failed to make the news. You can read the Wikipedia account here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald%27s_Restaurants

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