One evening, after attending the theatre, two gentlemen were
walking down the avenue when they observed a rather well dressed
and attractive young lady walking ahead of them. One of them turned
to the other and remarked, "I'd give $250 to spend the night with
that woman."
Much to their surprise, the young lady overheard the remark,
turned around, and said, "I'll take you up on that offer."
She had a neat appearance and a pleasant voice, so after bidding
his companion good night, the man accompanied the young lady to her
apartment.
The following morning the man presented her with $125 as he
prepared to leave.
She demanded the rest of the money, stating "If you don't give me
the other $125, I'll sue you for it."
He laughed, saying, "I'd like to see you get it on these
grounds."
Within a few days, he was surprised when he received a summons
ordering his presence in court as a defendant in a lawsuit. He
hurried to his lawyer and explained the details of the case.
His lawyer said, "She can't possibly get a judgment against you
on such grounds, but it will be interesting to see how her case
will be presented."
After the usual preliminaries, the lady's lawyer addressed the
court as follows: "Your honour, my client, this lady, is the owner
of a piece of property, a garden spot, surrounded by a profuse
growth of shrubbery, which property she agreed to rent to the
defendant for a specified length of time for the sum of $250. The
defendant took possession of the property, used it extensively for
the purposes for which it was rented, but upon evacuating the
premises, he paid only $125, one-half of the amount agreed upon.
The rent was not excessive, since it is restricted property, and we
ask judgment be granted against the defendant to assure payment of
the balance."
The defendant's lawyer was impressed and amused by the way his
opponent had presented the case. His defense therefore was somewhat
different from the way he originally planned to present it. "Your
honour," he said, "my client agrees that the lady has a fine piece
of property, which he did rent such property for a time, and a
degree of pleasure was derived from the transaction. However, my
client found a well on the property around which he placed his own
stones, sunk a shaft, and erected a pump, all labour performed
personally by him. We claim these improvements to the property were
sufficient to offset the unpaid amount, and that the plaintiff was
adequately compensated for the rental of said property. We,
therefore, ask that judgment not be granted."
The young lady's lawyer answered, "Your honour, my client agrees
that the defendant did find a well on her property. However, had
the defendant not known that the well existed; he would never have
rented the property. Also, upon evacuating the premises, the
defendant removed the stones, pulled out the shaft, and took the
pump with him. In doing so, he not only dragged the equipment
through the shrubbery, but left the hole much larger than it was
prior to his occupancy, making the property much less desirable to
others. We, therefore, ask that judgment be granted."
In the Judge's decision, he provided for two options: "Pay the
$125 or have the equipment detached from its current location and
provide it to the plaintiff for damages."
The defendant immediately wrote a check