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Case Reading is Fun!
In a personal injury suit in which Erma Veith's car "veered across the center of the road into the lane in which plaintiff was traveling":
…The evidence established that Mrs. Veith, while returning home after taking her husband to work, saw a white light on the back of a car ahead of her. She followed this light for three or four blocks. Mrs. Veith did not remember anything else except landing in a field, lying in the side of the road and people talking. She recalled awaking in the hospital.
The psychiatrist testified Mrs. Veith told him she was driving on a road when she believed that God was taking ahold of the steering wheel and was directing her car. She saw the truck coming and stepped on the gas in order to become airborne because she knew she could fly because Batman does it. To her surprise she was not airborne before striking the truck but after the impact she was flying…
See Breunig v. American Family Insurance Co., 173 N.W.2d 619 (Wis. 1970). The court did grant that Mrs. Veith's hallucinations might vitiate her negligence if she could show that she'd had no warning that she was going to suffer a hallucinatory episode while driving. However, the jury thought Mrs. Veith should have known of the risk and refrained from driving. Imagine that.
Posted October 30, 2003 09:04 PM | law school
Yes, we all get to read this case. Do you know what bothered me the most about this case?
Batman cannot fly!
It's all I could think about after reading it.
Posted by: DG at November 1, 2003 10:40 AM
I agree. Our prof put the Batman logo up on the screen while we were discussing it. Several people on our class also pointed out that Batman could not fly.
So, obviously, old Mrs. Veith was crazy if she didn't know that!
(bad pun warning: Is this where the term "batty" comes from???) ouch.
Posted by: Cinnamon at November 1, 2003 11:55 PM
Not to be 'more geek than thou' about this, but wasn't the case decided about the time that the old Batman children's show was out? And didn't the Batmobile fly in some of those? That's how I interpreted it when I read the case.
I'm certain that even in some of the early Batman comics, he had some unusual flying craft, but I assumed the poor lady thought she was in the Batmobile.
Posted by: A. Rickey at November 2, 2003 02:24 AM
I think I will raise my hand first thing Monday to point out that Batman cannot fly. It would be shame to allow another 100 students to finish reading this case and be under the mistaken impression that he could.
However, I have to go with A. Rickey on this one: I'm sure the Batmobile can fly, or could at some point. A good judge or attorney would have made that distinction clear in the case/brief, don't you think? ;-)
I wish my Torts prof would show Batman logos in class. I guess he's just too busy convincing us that it's better for the law to be "efficient" than fair or just. I love torts. Not.
Posted by: ambimb at November 2, 2003 06:34 AM
I was the person in my class who was able to point out last year that Batman couldn't fly. The resonant murmur that followed led me to believe that alot of people believed that he could. He didn't have any special powers...don't you people watch Justice League? :)
Posted by: Beanie at November 3, 2003 01:42 PM
