Bankruptcy Court of the Absurd
Dec. 2nd, 2008 09:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
captainsblogI have just reached the end of page 7 of a respondent's brief which ranks amongst the most convoluted documents in what may be the single most convoluted case in my 20-plus years at this madness.
Thank heavens for my sanity, though, that after numbing my brain with dozens of references to court cases from the Eastern District of New York and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, counsel for the trustee chose to end his argument with this citation (full names deleted and spelling errors corrected):
E’s own counsel explains lucidly, succinctly, and comprehensively how the statute of limitations bars the rights of any creditor of the Debtor who has not heretofore acted to enforce those rights. See, e.g., E’s Cross-Motion ¶¶ 55 – 70. Neither E, himself, nor his purported transferor, Ms. J, initiated any action to enforce the purported subrogation rights. Accordingly, their claims based on a creditor’s status, whatever they may be, are now time-barred. See, W. Shakespeare, HAMLET, Act III, sc.4, line vii.
Just one problem.
I know this play. I've written advanced-level PAPERS on this play. And I've just now read an online edition of the text, which I've duly checked against my authoritative Riverside edition (cause you can't believe anything you read on the Internet, not even Hamlet), and the cited line says this:
QUEEN GERTRUDE
I'll warrant you,
Fear me not: withdraw, I hear him coming.
As Shakespeare himself often said during rehearsals, WHAT THOU FUCK?!?
----
And so I give it to you, smart people. What famed Shakespearean line do YOU think the trustee is trying to quote?
ETA. Great answers, one and all, but Eleanor helped me find what we think it actually is. Right act, right scene, just, oh, about 200 lines down:
For 'tis the sport to have the engineer
Hoist with his own petard
Engine room, this is Petard!
Thank heavens for my sanity, though, that after numbing my brain with dozens of references to court cases from the Eastern District of New York and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, counsel for the trustee chose to end his argument with this citation (full names deleted and spelling errors corrected):
E’s own counsel explains lucidly, succinctly, and comprehensively how the statute of limitations bars the rights of any creditor of the Debtor who has not heretofore acted to enforce those rights. See, e.g., E’s Cross-Motion ¶¶ 55 – 70. Neither E, himself, nor his purported transferor, Ms. J, initiated any action to enforce the purported subrogation rights. Accordingly, their claims based on a creditor’s status, whatever they may be, are now time-barred. See, W. Shakespeare, HAMLET, Act III, sc.4, line vii.
Just one problem.
I know this play. I've written advanced-level PAPERS on this play. And I've just now read an online edition of the text, which I've duly checked against my authoritative Riverside edition (cause you can't believe anything you read on the Internet, not even Hamlet), and the cited line says this:
QUEEN GERTRUDE
I'll warrant you,
Fear me not: withdraw, I hear him coming.
As Shakespeare himself often said during rehearsals, WHAT THOU FUCK?!?
----
And so I give it to you, smart people. What famed Shakespearean line do YOU think the trustee is trying to quote?
ETA. Great answers, one and all, but Eleanor helped me find what we think it actually is. Right act, right scene, just, oh, about 200 lines down:
For 'tis the sport to have the engineer
Hoist with his own petard
Engine room, this is Petard!