# Lateral Thinking Puzzles - third time is best! **URL:** \ **Category:** Thread Games\ **Created:** [July 18, 2023, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214 "2023-07-18T13:39:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 92
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2024, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1821 "2024-04-01T17:33:24Z")
OK here it is: When I was a Cub Scout in the late 1970s, some of us went on a camping trip with one of the mothers driving. She had a CB radio and explained to us how it worked including emergency channel 9. She turned it off and a few miles later we see a car parked on the highway shoulder frantically running around; clearly something was very wrong. I asked our driver to turn on Channel 9 but she said no. I guess I was a dumb kid and thought everyone had a CB so I insisted. I’m sure more to shut me up than thinking it would work, she turned on the radio and tuned it to Channel 9 and sure enough there was a lady yelling about how her had had a heart attack, they were on the highway and she didn’t know what to do. Our driver tried to calm her down and get her location. Sure enough, it was the car we had just passed. Our driver got off the highway, went to a payphone and called for help. ETA: Cheesesteak gets half a point. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1822 "2024-04-12T15:08:12Z")
Here’s one: a lawyer once filed a complaint in the usual manner: serving process to the listed agent for service-of-process, and in turn getting a signed acknowledgment of receipt of the summons and complaint; and following up by likewise serving a request for entry of default, and clerk’s default judgment, for the exact dollar amount desired — such that a duly-recorded abstract of judgment promptly ensued, along with the lien. To the best of my knowledge, that got him disbarred. Why? Now, you could add in another event to explain that: _maybe he bribed a judge in the middle of the story,_ you could say. But then that stuff I mentioned wouldn’t matter; I wouldn’t have even needed to mention the other stuff, I could’ve just said “he bribed a judge” — or “he murdered someone and forged their signature,” or, I dunno, “he robbed a liquor store,” even. But he _didn’t do any of that,_ is my point; the stuff I mentioned suffices — such that, if I told you the names of the parties, you’d probably know the answer already. ---
**Author:** ![Rhodes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhodes/32/273_2.png) [@Rhodes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhodes)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1823 "2024-04-12T18:05:54Z")
I’m not familiar with most of the jargon here, but I’ll try. Is the lawyer practicing in the US? in Florida? in Georgia? in D.C.? in New York? Is the dollar amount desired greater than $1? greater than $100? greater than $10,000? greater than $1,000,000? greater than $100,000,000? Is his client a politician? a corporation? a criminal organization? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1824 "2024-04-12T18:59:18Z")
> [@Rhodes](#): > > Is the lawyer practicing in the US? in Florida? in Georgia? in D.C.? in New York? US, yes; no on the rest. (And I see no point in having you slog through a checklist, so: California.) > [@](#): > > Is the dollar amount desired greater than $1? greater than $100? greater than $10,000? greater than $1,000,000? greater than $100,000,000? Greater than $10,000, less than $1,000,000. > [@](#): > > Is his client a politician? a corporation? a criminal organization? Not a politician or a criminal organization. I don’t want to give a misleading answer on the ‘corporation’ point. ---
**Author:** ![Ana\_Byrd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ana\_Byrd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ana_Byrd)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1825 "2024-04-12T19:31:18Z")
Was a famous person involved? Has that famous person committed a crime relevant to the situation? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1826 "2024-04-12T19:32:33Z")
> [@Ana\_Byrd](#): > > Was a famous person involved? Nope. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2024, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1827 "2024-04-12T19:35:06Z")
> [@Rhodes](#): > > I’m not familiar with most of the jargon here, but I’ll try. (If it helps: if I were suing a corporation, I’d be delighted to hear that my lawyer took exactly the steps I mentioned, and I wouldn’t expect her to get in any sort of trouble for having done so.) ---
**Author:** ![Ana\_Byrd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ana\_Byrd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ana_Byrd)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1828 "2024-04-13T18:31:35Z")
Let’s cut to the part that seems to be holding us up: Is this gettable for non-lawyers? Or is understanding in detail how the legal precedure works necesssary? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2024, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1829 "2024-04-13T19:16:05Z")
I honestly believe what I’d said in that first post: that, if I told you the names of the parties, you’d probably know the answer already. I’ll admit that I may be wrong about that, and that I may have come up with a pretty crappy brainteaser as a result — but the only way I can think of readily putting that to the test would be, uh, cutting to the chase: by me PM’ing you the names, and you then posting whether it’s 100% gettable. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2024, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1830 "2024-04-19T11:43:03Z")
Did he file a complaint against himself? Or his own company/partnership/&c.? ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2024, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1831 "2024-04-19T11:59:18Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Here’s one: a lawyer once filed a complaint in the usual manner: serving process to the listed agent for service-of-process, and in turn getting a signed acknowledgment of receipt of the summons and complaint; and following up by likewise serving a request for entry of default, and clerk’s default judgment, for the exact dollar amount desired — such that a duly-recorded abstract of judgment promptly ensued, along with the lien. > > To the best of my knowledge, that got him disbarred. Why? I understand hardly any of this. The only thing I got out of it was: “a lawyer made a complaint and it got him disbarred. Why?” Is there any other detail in there we need to know? And if so can you explain it in layman’s terms please? Assume I’m a 5 year old in this instance. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2024, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1832 "2024-04-19T12:02:44Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > I understand hardly any of this. I’m guessing he is saying he followed the correct procedure completely. But if you are not an attorney how would you know that from the description and not that he missed something like failing to provide the court a copy and THAT got him disbarred. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2024, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1833 "2024-04-19T12:04:46Z")
Thanks. I’m sensing that the lawyers complaint was upheld but it got him disbarred regardless. Is that right? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2024, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1834 "2024-04-19T12:05:34Z")
Was there something about the lawyer’s status that is the lateral part? Like he was suspended or not licensed in that state. Did he file in the wrong court? Did he file against someone that he was told he couldn’t file against (so like contempt got him disbarred)? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2024, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1835 "2024-04-19T12:11:00Z")
No, he wasn’t suspended or not licensed in that state —and he filed in the right court, against a party he hadn’t been told not to file against — and, per your previous question, the complaint was filed against a corporation he didn’t own. But, again, if I told you the names of all the parties, you’d presumably have it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2024, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1836 "2024-04-19T12:18:08Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > I’m guessing he is saying he followed the correct procedure completely. But if you are not an attorney how would you know that from the description and not that he missed something like failing to provide the court a copy and THAT got him disbarred. I thought I covered that as best as I could when I said _“if I were suing a corporation, I’d be delighted to hear that my lawyer took exactly the steps I mentioned, and I wouldn’t expect her to get in any sort of trouble for having done so.”_ — that it wasn’t something like failing to provide the court a copy, because then I’d instead say, uh, ‘your procedural slip-up does not delight me, and you should get in trouble for it.’ ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2024, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1837 "2024-04-19T12:25:30Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > _“if I were suing a corporation, I’d be delighted to hear that my lawyer took exactly the steps I mentioned, and I wouldn’t expect her to get in any sort of trouble for having done so.”_ And I think that is part of the confusion. As a layman, if my attorney told me he filed for a motion on the heisenfram resonators, I’d be clueless but say, “Yeah!!!” thinking he’s doing something. Also, there is the idea, especially in these puzzles, that maybe there is exclusion through inclusion meaning if you give us a list, something not on that list may be assumed to be excluded. So for us laypeople can the puzzle be simplified as simply: the lawyer followed the process completely and perfectly with no additions or oversights? Also, is there significance that you said lawyer and not attorney? Was he not allowed to act for his client? Was he his own client? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2024, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1838 "2024-04-19T12:27:51Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Was he his own client? He was his own client, and in that capacity followed the process completely and perfectly with no additions or oversights. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2024, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1839 "2024-04-19T12:43:50Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > He was his own client Does the fact he was his own client enter into why he was disbarred at all? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2024, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214/1840 "2024-04-19T12:53:12Z")
Was he suing a former client of his? Did he violate lawyer-client privilege? Did his lawsuit expose some prior wrongdoing by himself? Something wrong he did before he filed the suit? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214.md?page=91) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lateral-thinking-puzzles-third-time-is-best/987214.md?page=93)