In this dramatization of transcripts from a legal deposition, a lawyer becomes embroiled in an absurd argument about the definition of a photocopier.
The Case: Ohio Supreme Court Case 2010-2029
In 2010, the Cuyahoga County Recorder’s Office in Ohio changed their policy about copying records. Digital files would no longer be available, and the public would have to make hard copies of documents for $2 per page. This would prove to be prohibitively expensive for Data Trace Information Services and Property Insight, companies that collect hundreds of pages of this public information each week. They sued the Recorder’s Office for access to digital versions of the documents on a CD. In the middle of the case, a lawyer representing them questioned the IT administrator of the Recorder’s Office, which led to a 10-page argument over the semantics of photocopiers.
The case never went to trial. After two years, many depositions and 600 pages of paperwork, the Ohio Supreme Court decided that the Recorder’s Office should make a CD with the documents available to the public. The price? One dollar.
14 Comments
Grimm*promote
siftbotSelf promoting this video and sending it back into the queue for one more try; last queued Tuesday, April 29th, 2014 4:22am PDT - promote requested by original submitter Grimm.
articianThe most fucked up thing here is that, probably, no one familiar with the US Justice system would bat an eye thinking it was fake (it's not fake, it's just so insane that most *sane* people would question such a ridiculous scenario).
How can we make the rule of law also fair? It's so self-defeating.
No nation would want law to be horribly alienating to the majority of the populace, but in making it so based in logic (which I completely agree with, with our current situation being the only example I don't), it becomes such a nuanced system it defeats the purpose of equality in court.
ChaosEngine@artician, the law is essentially a complex solution to a complex problem.
The video was hilarious, but it really needed more context. I wanted to know who the guy was being interviewed, and why he was so evasive about photocopiers!
GrimmI've updated the description with more details about the case.
@artician, the law is essentially a complex solution to a complex problem.
The video was hilarious, but it really needed more context. I wanted to know who the guy was being interviewed, and why he was so evasive about photocopiers!
SFOGuy*quality
Unbelievably, on some days and in some places, this is my very sad life.
And no, I'm not a lawyer.
I just have to live in a web of civil service nightmares sometimes.
Kafka knew what he was talking about.
siftbotBoosting this quality contribution up in the Hot Listing - declared quality by SFOGuy.
ChaosEngineThanks, that makes more sense now.
I'm just glad the lawyer asking the question was on the right side
I've updated the description with more details about the case.
scheherazadeEver wonder how you get junk mail the day after changing addresses?
Easy electronic data harvesting of public records.
Paper records would slow this crap down.
Or at least 'throttled' digital record downloads.
Or returning records upon request for info about a specific individual/company, so they'd have to know who to ask about. Possibly in combination with a cap on requests per day.
Let the info be freely available, but not quick.
-scheherazade
notarobotGreat transcript reading. *Law.
siftbotAdding video to channels (Law) - requested by notarobot.
dagComment hidden because you are ignoring dag.(show it anyway)
Really fantastic performances.
Zawash*wtf, *fail
siftbotAdding video to channels (Fail, Wtf) - requested by Zawash.
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