Unenlightened Justice Can Be Elevating and Appealing

Justice was truly blind: The jury was in the dark; the judge couldn’t see the arguments, and--in a way--even the lawyers got the shaft. It wasn’t a case of the court system gone haywire, but only the result of a power failure caused by a thunderstorm in Montgomery, Ala. Just before the 1299148404returned a $4.1-million verdict against two insurance companies in a medical insurance case, Judge William Gordon had gone to his car to roll up the windows so the storm wouldn’t soak its interior. The electricity failed as he took an elevator back to the third-floor courtroom, trapping him in the darkened shaft. A judge who replaced Gordon to read the verdict couldn’t rule on defense objections, so the attorneys were forced to go into the hallway and shout their arguments down the elevator shaft. Gordon got copies of the verdict through an opening at the top of the elevator car. “Under the conditions that I’m looking at it, I think it’s OK,” said Gordon, who was freed after 30 minutes.

--A high school graduation requirement that takes effect this fall will force affluent Bloomfield Hills, Mich., students to learn first hand about people who are down and out. Deputy Supt. Gary Doyle says that beginning with next school year’s freshmen, students in the Detroit suburb must volunteer 40 hours of community service to hospitals, senior citizen groups, charities or other programs by the time they graduate. “They need to learn that Bloomfield Hills is not what it’s really like in the outside world,” Doyle said. But some students were feeling down about the requirement. “That’s not fair; that’s really not fair,” Jennifer O’Brien, 14, a student at Lahser High School, said. Incoming freshmen “have other things to do,” said Susan Sickinger, 15. “No one else had to do it.”

--A judge in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., granted a $50-a-week increase in support for the 1-year-old granddaughter of entertainer Johnny Carson. Carson’s son, Chris, 36, was ordered to increase payments for his child born out of wedlock, Christal Carson, from $125 to $175 a week. The child’s mother, Tanena Love, 35, had asked for $500 a week. Chris Carson is an unemployed golf pro whose only income is a $35,000 annuity from his father, according to testimony. Love’s attorney, Ellis Rubin, said the judge “never mentioned the fact that Chris Carson could make $40 an hour giving golf lessons, but chose not to work because he didn’t need the money.” Carson’s attorney, Herbert Stettin, could not be reached immediately.