Unreasonable Expectations

When I was a kid, my folks would often say things that really didn't make sense to me (as a kid) but make sense now that I'm an older kid.  Things like:

• A penny for your thoughts
• Back to the drawing board
• Don't count your chickens before they're hatched
• Don't put all your eggs in one basket
• He can't cut the mustard
• He missed the boat
• He's in the catbird seat
• It takes two to tango
• She's being the devil's advocate 
• Take it with a grain of salt
• That's a blessing in disguise
• That's going to cost an arm and a leg
• That's the best thing since sliced bread
• That's the last straw
• The ball is in your court
• You can't judge a book by its cover
• You hit the nail on the head
• Your eyes are bigger than your stomach
• Your guess is as good as mine
• You're barking up the wrong tree

In fact, I had a person say to me just the other day that my eyes were bigger than my stomach and it got me thinking about an attorney who came in the other day.

Seems attorney represented a client in a negligence matter.  Seems client had taken their car to a mechanic who had failed to properly re-install the brake line.  One thing led to another and client found themselves flying down the road without brakes up and over hills, through intersections, a few red lights - all without incident (or accidents) - and client was finally able to slow down enough and pull to the side of the road.  Scary ride, huh?

Client wants to sue the living blazes out of mechanic.  Problem is/was, what are client's damages?!  The car wasn't damaged (well, except for the brake line, the car body was in pristine condition), and client wasn't damaged (no whiplash or anything).  Client doesn't care.  Client wants money - LOTS of it - and attorney wants to get paid.  So, I lead attorney over to:

• Dobbs' The Law of Torts (TR)
• How Insurance Companies Settle Claims (James Publishing)
• California Torts (Lexis)
• California Tort Damages (CEB)
• California Civil Practice: Torts (TR)

and attorney spends the next several hours looking for some way to collect damages when the are no damages.  Yeah, good luck with that.

Bottom line, you need help finding something, odds are your local county law library is the place to find it - or not.  I mean sometimes the best (or only) answer is NO and it's best to know that before you spend countless hours or dollars on fruitless litigation.