Ipse Dixit: Columbus Took a Chance

• Jurisdiction: United States
• Publication year: 2022

Ipse Dixit: Columbus Took a Chance

Many of us know Baton Rouge's John Perry as an excellent mediator, but, as most mediators, he had a prior life as a lawyer.

Many John Perry stories abound, but this one is particularly unusual because it has happened to all of us from time to time, but never quite like this.

So John Perry is in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in 1988, taking a deposition in a products liability case. The deposition ran long, as they are wont to do in products cases—through no fault of John, of course (so he says). He had a reservation to fly home immediately after the deposition, from Philadelphia, some 65 miles away by Interstate. His flight was scheduled to leave at 4:30 p.m. Last flight out.

He rushes out of the deposition and he's on the Interstate trying to get to Philadelphia. He's looking at his watch. Not gonna make it. Being the competitor that he is, he is undaunted. He's driving aggressively, even driving on the shoulder passing cars on the right. Very unlike John Perry.

Well, it's now 4:15 p.m. Where is John? John is just pulling into the airport.

Problem No. 1: He has a rental car he needs to return. Off site. Not gonna happen.

Problem No. 2: He has to catch this flight because he promised his wife (and much better half), Fran, that he would be home for her birthday, which he's let work interfere with way too many times in the past. But not this time. No, not this time. Not today.

This was in the PC era (pre-cell phone era) so he couldn't just Google the Hertz desk, call them and let them know...