TYYPOS

     Back in the old days when I practiced law, IBM Selectric was state of the art.  Few attorneys did their own typing, me being exhibit A.  And during desperate times when my secretary was sick, and the deadline hours away, I stumbled through rounds of combat with the Selectric.  To place the boxing analogy in the present, I was McGregor…sort of.

         It was the typos in each round that cost me points.  Lack of speed didn’t help either.  The cold, calculating IBM Selectric, like Mayweather, wore me down.  Even with today’s computers, and voice recognition software, pesky typos creep into my prose.  Bonnie, my watchful judicial assistant, usually ferrets them out. 

         Typos can have significant consequences in judicial opinions, motions, briefs and other legal documents.  Although not technically a typo, I include within the definition the inadvertent omission or addition of a word.  “Not” comes to mind, particularly when it should or should not precede “guilty.”

         In Afewerki v. Anaya Law Group (9th Cir., Aug. 18, 2017, No. 15‑56510), a typographical error was termed a “false statement.”  Defendant debt collector ran afoul of the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) when it filed a complaint in state court to collect an unpaid debt.  The debt collector was given the correct amount of the debt due the creditor, $26,916.08.  But the collection company sued for $29,916.08, $3,000 more than owed.

In reversing the trial court on summary judgment in favor of the collection company, the 9th Circuit concluded this was a material false representation that could “‘cause the least sophisticated debtor to suffer a disadvantage in charting a course of action in response to the collection effort.’”  This, despite the acknowledgment that the error was inadvertent and corrected by the debt collector who served the debtor with notice of the correction.

And in McDonald v. John P. Scripps Newspaper (1989) 210 Cal.App.3d 100, the appellate court upheld the trial court’s judgment with … “AFIRMED.”  Unbelievable.

And typos in other areas can have embarrassing repercussions.  But first we have to decide if in fact an apparent typo is in fact a typo.  More than 10 years ago, I wrote about a newspaper story concerning a bank robbery.  I guess the following example was a typo.

The front page headline told of an “armed old man bandit” who robbed a local bank.  Let’s put aside the question whether a bank can be robbed.  And forget my indignation when I read that the “suspect’s age is somewhere between 50 and 60.” 

The article describes the “aged robber” as victimizing “multiple tellers” at “various local banks” over the past several months.  I suppose he could have victimized various tellers at multiple banks.  But, anyway, the elderly bandit entered the bank with a gun and threatened to detonate a device that looked like a pipe bomb.  The article then states, “The employees were ejaculated” and “the area sealed off.”  I heard that one teller asked the robber if she would see him again.  Another employee lit a cigarette.  Jay Leno thought the robbery had occurred at a sperm bank. 

Some years ago I received an award from an organization that presented me with a large parchment scroll.  My name appeared in bold, elegant, decorative calligraphy that would have been appropriate for the Magna Carta, or at least a movie about the Magna Carta.  The organization noted that among my attributes my “dedicated pursuit of truth and integrity in the judiciary are paralleled.”  Guess I was not much of a standout after all. 

         I would like to resist the childish temptation to search for titillating examples of typos to share with you.  So here are a few I came across.  Excuse me…I didn’t say I would or could resist.  You might ask yourself if they are in fact typos.  A school district urged parents to become “a Partner in Pubic Education.”  Shouldn’t kids have a well-rounded education?  A restaurant advertised its burger’s special ingredient, “anus beef.”  I’ll settle for a ham on rye.  I saw an ad for “Van Camp’s Porn and Beans.”  The opening page of a published book contains a “PEEFACE.”  But not in Under Submission, Volume II of my columns soon to be released.  I could go through some examples of tattoos gone awry.  Can you believe a biker has tattooed on his derriere .… ?  Never mind.

*****

         Two brief postscripts.  First to wish one of our outstanding jurists the best on her retirement.  Beginning this month Justice Kathryn Werdegar will no longer be sitting on the California Supreme Court.  Her incisive analysis, clear writing style, and well-reasoned opinions established sound precedent in California and helped sustain the preeminence of the California Supreme Court.  Her influence was far reaching and will continue in California and beyond for decades to come. 

         And, second, a final goodbye to my dear friend of 60 years, legal scholar extraordinaire, Harry Sigman, who passed away last month.  Harry taught commercial law at USC, UCLA, and universities in Europe and Israel. He represented the United States at the United Nations in matters of commerce.  His books, articles, treatises, and lectures on commercial law have been translated into numerous languages.  He was the world’s expert on Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code and authored significant changes in that law throughout the years.  No wonder he received the California State Bar’s Business Law Section’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

         Harry spoke numerous languages and was well versed in art, architecture and history, proving that a rich cultural background makes for excellence in a lawyer.  Harry’s searing intellect was put to good use in forging the foundation of what could well become a uniform commercial code in the European Union and the United States.  This dream of Harry’s would ensure a reasonable degree of certainty in commercial transactions throughout the world.  Harry, you will live on through your accomplishments.