Poetic Opinions

We thought that we would never see

A suit to compensate a tree.

–Fisher v. Lowe, 333 N.W.2d 67 (Mich. App. 1983); authored by Judge J. H. Gillis.

The case quoted above involved liability for damage to an oak tree caused when the defendant’s truck struck the tree.   The entire opinion is written as a poem.  How much more engaging as a poem than as prose!

Many courts have issued opinions as poems.   Citations include:  Wheat v. Fracker, 130 S.E.2d 251 (Ga. App. 1963); In re Love, 61 B.R. 558 (Bankr. S.D. Fla. 1986); In re Midwest Polychem, Ltd., 61 B.R. 559 (Bankr. N.D. Ill. 1986); Mackensworth v. American Trading Transportation Co., 367 F. Supp. 373 (E.D. Pa. 1973); and, Devine v. Byrd, 667 F. Supp. 414 (N.D. Tex. 1987).