JUDGEMENT DAY

One evening after attending the theater, two gentleman were walking
down the avenue when they observed a rather well dressed and
attractive lady just ahead of them. One of them turned to the other
and remarked, "I'd give $500 to spend the night with that woman."

To their surprise, the young lady overheard them and turned around.
She said, "I'll take you up on that." She had a neat and pleasant
voice. So, after bidding his companion good-bye, the man accompanied
the lady to her apartment where they immediately went to bed.

The following morning he presented her with $250 as he prepared to
leave. She demanded the rest of the money, stating, "If you don't give
me the rest of the $500, I'll sue you for it."

He laughed, "I'd like to see you get it on these grounds."

The next day he was surprised when he received summons ordering his
appearance in court as defendant in a lawsuit. His lawyer said, "She
can't possibly get a judgement against you on such grounds, but it
will be interesting to see how her case is presented."

After the usual preliminaries, the lady's lawyer addressed the court.
"Your Honor, my client, the lady, is the owner of a piece of property.
A colorful garden spot with ideal temperature conditions for social
activity, surrounded by profuse shrubbery. She agreed to rent said
property to the defendant for a specified length of time for the sum
of $500."

"The defendant took possession of the property, used it extensively
for the purpose for which it was rented, but upon vacating the
premises he paid her only $250, exactly one-half of the agreed amount.
The rent was not excessive since it was restricted property in a
private zone, and we ask that the judgement be granted to the
plaintiff to assure payment of the balance."

The defendant's lawyer was impressed and amused at the way his
opponent had presented the case; his defense therefore was somewhat
altered from the way he had originally planned. "Your Honor," he
began, "my client agrees that the young lady has a fine piece of
property. He did rent the property for a time and a degree of pleasure
was received from the transaction."

"However, my client found a well in the property - initially around
which he placed his own stones, sunk a shaft and erected a pump.
Pumping operations, personally performed by him, produced mutually
beneficial results. He claims those improvements to the property and
the resulting benefits adequately compensate for the rental of the
property. We will therefore ask judgement not be awarded."

The young lady's lawyer rebutted with the following: "Your Honor, my
client agrees that the defendant did find a well on the property, but
that if the defendant had not known that the well existed, he never
would have rented the property. Also, upon vacating the premises, the
defendant removed his stones, pulled out his shaft, and took his pump
with him."

"In doing this, he not only dragged his equipment through the
shrubbery, but left the hole much larger than it was prior to his
occupancy, requiring extensive clean-up operations and making it
easily accessible to little children. We therefore ask that judgement
be granted."


Who prevailed? You make the call.