Best of Jim Flynn's Money & the Law

Jim Flynn's first column about the law and the legal profession was published in the Gazette Telegraph (now The Gazette) in November of 1992. Since then, more than 1,200 columns have appeared in the paper, initially under the name "Legal Ease" and then "Money & the Law." This book contains 165 of the columns, with the selection criteria being: entertainment value, an interesting topic, and/or useful (occasionally) information. Here are a few of Jim's favorite lines from these columns: -Kimberly Haman sued her bank and Equifax under the Fair Credit Reporting Act after she was unable to have information removed from her credit file indicating she was dead. In her lawsuit, Ms. Haman claims being reported as dead has had an adverse effect on her applications for credit. -Your spouse cannot both murder you and order that your body be fed to bears. -Thirty years is a long time to go between visits to an estate planning attorney. I hope you do better with your dentist. -Explanatory statement in will: "I have left all my wealth to the Colorado Rockies because they need a pitcher more than my children need anything." -Money was a great improvement over a payments system that required you to drag around, say, beaver pelts if you wanted to buy beer. -Although my old debit card was working just fine, last week my bank sent me a new one. This was an exciting event since my old card was merely gold and the new one is -- platinum! I can hardly wait for my next trip to the ATM. -With the possible exception of being admitted to a hospital, buying a home is the largest financial commitment most of us will ever make. -Ever since the invention of the automobile -- and, for that matter, the horse -- there has been a thriving market for used means of transportation. -Recently, Daimler Chrysler announced a recall of some 600,000 late model SUV's and pickup trucks. The problem is failed ball joints which, in rare cases, could cause a wheel to come off. (Most experts agree this can have an adverse effect on handling.)