Could it be...SATAN?

In the true spirit of Halloween, our LexisNexis representative at DePaul provided us with a case searching exercise to have fun and win points. I had a great time with this, finding cases such as United States v. Vampire Nation, as well as another where a man set himself on fire in a sheep costume, not to mention reliving the wonderful Stambovsky v. Ackley, a favorite from our contracts class.

In Stambovsky, a man bought a house, then tried to undo the sale because it was inhabited by poltergeists. (The original owner posted it for sale as "a riverfront Victrian (with ghost).") The colorful language of the judge included many puns, which we greatly enjoyed.

Another case that I found on the "scavenger hunt" that I had not previously heard of was United States ex rel. Mayo v. Satan and his Staff. Yes, that is an actual case, and apparently it is not a joke.

In that case, the plaintiff alleged under numerous federal civil rights acts that "Satan has on numerous occasions caused plaintiff misery and unwarranted threats, against the will of the plaintiff, that Satan has placed deliberate obstacles in his path and has caused plaintiff's downfall."

"Plaintiff alleges that by reason of these acts Satan has deprived him of his constitutional rights."

The best part is where the court starts talking about being unable to serve process on Satan, or "whether plaintiff may obtain personal jurisdiction over the defendant in this judicial district," because Satan had never maintained a residence in Pennsylvania, nor had he appeared as a defendant in any other case.