another joke
One evening, after attending the theater, 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 $250.00 to
spend the night with that woman." Much to their surprise, the young
lady overheard the remark, turned around, and replied, "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 $125.00 as he
prepared to leave.
She demanded the rest of the money stating, "If you don't give me
the other $125.00, I'll sue you for it." He laughed saying, "I'd
like to see you get it on these grounds."
The next day, 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 honor, 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 $250.00. 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 $125.00, 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 honor," he said, "My client agrees that the lady has a
fine piece of property, that 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 labor 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 thus: "Your honor, my client
agrees that the defendant did find a well on her property. However,
had 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
125.00 or have the equipment detached and provided to the plaintiff
for damages."
The defendant wrote a check immediately.
