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December 05, 2005
Law time
This week and next week will be taken up by the evil that is law school final exams. Can you believe my first-ever semester as a law student is almost up? Me either, which is why I am pooping myself in fright at what awaits me.
So, to best serve my interests, here is my analysis of the Boston Red Sox' asinine lawsuit to recover the historic World Series winning ball from Doug Mientkiewicz.
The Red Sox asked a judge to let the team keep the ball that Doug Mientkiewicz caught for the final out that clinched Boston's 2004
World Series title.
Ownership of the ball has been in dispute during the 13 months since pitcher Keith Foulke flipped it to Mientkiewicz, giving Boston a four-game sweep of the
St. Louis Cardinals and its first World Series championship in 86 years.
Mientkiewicz, who clutched the ball in his glove and joined teammates in celebration, later put the ball in a safe deposit box and claimed ownership when the Red Sox asked for it.
Ah, so the issue here is whether the Red Sox or Mientkiewicz own the ball. Somebody supposedly said possession is 9/10 of the law. If this is so, title is the other 1/10, and that is the most important part of all.
The Red Sox claim that because Mientkiewicz was an employee of the Sox, and he acquired the ball during the course of his employment, the ball belongs to the Sox. Objects usually acquired during the scope of employment become property of the employer, especially if its a work-related object such as a baseball.
On the other hand, Mientkiewicz can argue the Sox have no claim to the ball at all. Although Mientkiewicz was acting as an employee, the ball never belonged to the Sox. It belonged to their opponent, the St. Louis Cardinals. The game was played in St. Louis, and the home team is responsible for supplying all the balls, though in the World Series Major League Baseball may have supplied them. Boston can't claim to have had any control over the situation when it was not operating on its own field and did not supply the baseballs. Furthermore, there is no indication St. Louis ever abandoned its interest in the ball.
If anything, the St. Louis Cardinals have the most valid claim to the ball. But, if they want to get the ball back, they would have to sue for its return. In the Red Sox vs. Mientkiewicz dispute, Boston's argument that Mientkiewicz was acting as an employee of the Red Sox is very applicable. The only reason he got the ball was because he was an employee of the Sox. Because of this, I believe a judge will likely rule Boston owns the baseball.
But, if St. Louis wants to be a bunch of dicks, they could probably sue for the ball's return, as well. My own personal opinion is that the Boston Red Sox are also being dicks in this case, so why shouldn't everyone be dicks?
Posted by oz115 at December 5, 2005 08:37 PM
Comments
Boyfriend, between my blog and your blog, we've been talking about dicks a lot lately... horney??
ANYWHO... I think that the dude that caught the ball should get it. Until sports teams come up with some rule that 100% of equipment is theirs and no one can leave the ballpark/stadium with such things, then it's finders keepers, losers weepers. This guy caught the ball, it's his.
Posted by: Lovely Lady Friend at December 5, 2005 10:40 PM
The ball belongs to the Red Sox. They're the employer and he would not have received it if he weren't hired by them.
Besides, he got paid millions of dollars by the Red Sox. The least he could do is return the ball to the franchise and city that waited almost 90 years for a title.
Our company does home remodeling. What if one of our 25 employees (similar to the same size of a baseball team) was given a free gift (let's say a big screen TV) by one of the homeowners we're building a $150,000 addition for? As the employer who is assuming ALL risk, paying his/her salary, and paying worker's compensation and buttloads of TAXES, I (actually my parents) deserve the right to be given the free big screen TV, not just one of our employees who helped build the project.
Christy, you, the bright business person that you are, would cleary agree with me in that case, right? I know you well and I know you'd be pissed off if someone took credit for all the hard work you did.
Posted by: Stat Boy at December 6, 2005 01:15 PM