A friend was recently diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). He is a laywer. I want to say something like “In the case of Smith v. ALL I predict a win for the prosecution,” but my brain can’t decide whether the disease should be considered the defendant or the plaintiff.
[ul]
[li]Smith is the wronged party, attacked by the ALL, so sometimes I want to say “Smith v. ALL.”[/li][li]But the ALL “brought the case,” so to speak, so sometimes I want to say “ALL v. Smith.”[/li][/ul]
Since an illness is not, in fact, a legal case there may not be a “right” answer. But…is there one?
Is your friend a defense attorney or prosecutor? If so, I’d put him in the same role here. Otherwise, I got nothing.
ALL committed the tort. Smith is the plaintiff, so Smith v. ALL.
Another option would be to make it a class action suit, where Smith’s friends (Smith et al) are in it with him
Nope, not that kind of lawyer. That could have been kind of perfect, though.
That’s what I keep leaning toward…thanks!
Ooooh, I like that idea. 
Smith v. ALL could suggest a more aggressive/less defensive role. Suggesting your friend is gonna kick ALL’s ass.
But I think it is more logical to perceive ALL as the instigator, suggesting your friend is going to successfully defend himself. I also like the class action idea.
(If you use the class action theme, Smith’s oncologist, radiologist, surgeon, etc along with his friends could be named as parties of the class)
Class action suits are styled using only the named plaintiff. Class members aren’t mentioned, since they are generally unknown.
I’d just stick with Smith et al. v. Cancer.
I think this is the right way to look at it. Smith was wronged by ALL. Smith is now litigating to recover [from] damages and to be made whole, or to be put back into the position Smith was in before being wronged.
Smith definitely sounds like a plaintiff to me.
We usually speaking of fighting cancer, rather than the perhaps more medically accurate fact that cancer is fighting us and we are defending ourselves.
I think it’s Human v. Cancer to convey the idea that he’s the injured party, taking the fight to the cancer.
This is a little specialized, but when the federal government seizes imported products entering this country under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act for allegedly being contaminated or unsafe, the case caption styles the objects themselves as the defendants: United States v. 449 Cases Containing Tomato Paste, or United States v. 88 Cases, More or Less, Containing Bireley’s Orange Beverage. One can also find United States v. 9 Barrels of Butter; United States v. 6 Barrels of Ground Pepper; and United States v. Certain Bags Rape Seed.
You could go with Smith v. 600 Lymph Nodes, More or Less, Containing Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. In such a case, your friend would be the “libelant” seeking to condemn the adulterated material.
Off-topic, but seizures of other imported products violating some law are often styled the same way. Hence United States v. Various Articles of Obscene Merchandise.
Thank you, everyone! I’m definitely going with Smith v. ALL.
Part of me still loves the class action idea, but I think ultimately it really is just my friend against the cancer. If I run with this analogy, though, perhaps I could present his family/friends/medical team as character and expert witnesses…?
My friend might actually appreciate that (+ explanation), but it’s a bit…long. 
I may include it in a narrative, though.