In 1969, Arizonan lawyer Russel T. Tansie filed a suit against God on behalf of his secretary, Betty Penrose, seeking $100,000 in damages. Penrose blamed God for his “negligence” in allowing a lightning bolt to strike her house.[1] The lawsuit was filed in a Californian court under the argument that God owned property in Sonoma County, California, due to the Limeliters singer Lou Gottlieb transferring the deed of his Morning Star Ranch to God about a week before. The deed was ruled invalid, due to God not being able to take possession of the property, and hence Penrose’s lawsuit was also ruled invalid.[2]
I am gravely disappointed that the rationale the court used wasn’t that the lightning bolt was an act of God.
In legal usage in the English-speaking world, an act of God, act of nature, or damnum fatale (“loss arising from inevitable accident”) is an event caused by no direct human action (e.g. severe or extreme weather and other natural disasters) for which individual persons are not responsible and cannot be held legally liable for loss of life, injury, or property damage.[2][3][4][5]
EDIT: I mean, they’re probably legally-correct. I think that they are supposed to consider jurisdiction before anything else, and it died on a jurisdictional issue, but my way is funnier.
I am gravely disappointed that the rationale the court used wasn’t that the lightning bolt was an act of God.
EDIT: I mean, they’re probably legally-correct. I think that they are supposed to consider jurisdiction before anything else, and it died on a jurisdictional issue, but my way is funnier.