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IN THE NEWS
Page 14
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Stuart Thomas brings you his regular round-up of the way our local and national press has covered the wonderful world of road transport this week...
Possessing a silly name and filing lawsuits are the sorts of activities at which Americans excel. But even among the elite, the heroic Curtis Gokey is a true groundbreaker.
Brave Californian Gokey refused to allow his name to hold him back after a truck backed into his pickup. According to The Guardian, he did what any self-respecting citizen with a $3,600 (£2,000) bill to swallow would do: he sued.
The only troublesome issue with this litigation was that Gokey had been driving the truck at the time.
"Mr Gokey, a 51-year-old employee of the local public works department, filed a lawsuit demanding that the city pay for the repairs," reported the national. His argument made perfect sense: the truck belonged to the city of Lodi and he was damned if he was footing the bill. Watertight defences like this are few and far between.
Sadly, Gokey's attempt at justice began to look shaky when a Lodi attorney received the claim.
"Some things are just ridiculous," the equally wonderfully monikered Steve Schwabauer said. "This is just one of those things where you go, 'no, the citizens of Lodi are not going to pay for his error'."
Undeterred. Gokey's wife then got involved in this battle for Truth, Justice and the American Way and filed another lawsuit, but this inspired attempt at righting the city's wrong swiftly stalled. Married couples in California count as single entities.