{"id":3594,"date":"2005-02-05T15:28:49","date_gmt":"2005-02-05T19:28:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/formerlyknownas\/2005\/02\/05\/the-cookie-curmudgeon-checks-"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:58:00","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:58:00","slug":"the-cookie-curmudgeon-checks-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2005\/02\/05\/the-cookie-curmudgeon-checks-in\/","title":{"rendered":"the cookie curmudgeon checks in"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Somebody needs to register a cautionary dissent to the tongue-clucking that is going on over the <\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
$930 judgment entered this week against two young Colorado women who wanted to surprise their<\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
neighbors with fresh-baked cookies.  (see <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>Walter<\/FONT><\/A>, more <\/FONT>Walter<\/FONT><\/A>, and <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/FONT>Fedster<\/FONT><\/A>; MIPTC<\/FONT><\/A>; Denver Post<\/EM> <\/FONT>story<\/FONT><\/A>; <\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
ABC\/<\/FONT>GMA<\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/A>)  In case you missed it, their gesture<\/FONT> of neighborliness triggered a serious anxiety attack in <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
one lucky beneficiary, Wanita Renea Young, 49, and she sued the pair in small claims court for medical <\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
bills.  For more background, <\/FONT>read the full account given in their local newspaper, Durango Herald<\/EM>, “<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
Friendly gesture ends in court<\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/A>” <\/FONT>(Feb. 5, 2005).<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
\n
\"chipCookies\"  I guess it’s up to skepticalEsq<\/EM> to try to bring a little balance to the story.<\/FONT>  <\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
\n
— click <\/FONT>here<\/FONT><\/A> for the rest of this story, which concludes, after making some darn good points:<\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n

\n

\n

Suggesting that this episode means no one should act kindly toward neighbors or strangers, or that doing so in a thought-full, thought-through manner raises unacceptable risks of being sued, is simply asinine.  Almost any case can be made to sound like a miscarriage of justice, or a symbol of what’s wrong with our society or legal system, if<\/EM> you leave out enough facts.<\/FONT>   I have little hope for the main-stream media, but I wish my weblawg colleagues would try a little harder to present cases in a fair manner.  <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
\n

<\/FONT> <\/P>
\n


\n
“the rice cake man
is next door!”
the child announces
<\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n

\n

\n

\n

\n

\n

\n

my child’s rice cakes
my child’s rice cakes…
all in a row<\/FONT><\/P>
\n


 <\/P><\/FONT><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE>stomping and singing
on rice cake and jelly…
katydid!
<\/FONT>
\n


\n

\n

\n

\n

\n
<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
\n
<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
\n
Kobyashi Issa<\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/A>,  \"chipCookies\" <\/FONT>
\n
David G. Lanoue<\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/A>, translator<\/FONT><\/DIV><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/DIV>
\n
<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
\n

\n
by <\/FONT>dagosan<\/FONT><\/STRONG><\/A>:<\/FONT><\/EM><\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/FONT>  <\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n

\n

\n
empty cookie tin — <\/DIV>
\n
hermit heads<\/DIV>
\n
to bed<\/DIV>
\n
 <\/DIV><\/DIV>
\n
                          <\/FONT>[Feb.5, 2005]<\/EM><\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/DIV>
\n
<\/FONT> <\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Somebody needs to register a cautionary dissent to the tongue-clucking that is going on over the  $930 judgment entered this week against two young Colorado women who wanted to surprise their neighbors with fresh-baked cookies.  (see Walter, more Walter, and Fedster; MIPTC; Denver Post story; ABC\/GMA)  In case you missed it, their gesture of neighborliness triggered a serious anxiety […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2926],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pre-06-2006"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kP1R-VY","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3594"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13385,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3594\/revisions\/13385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}