A ledge, a tree, and a jury makes three

["Michael McGeachie" <mmcgeach@>]

Was there ledge there?  Were there trees there?  Were the trees removed by
misters P&M Landscaping?  Or did they conspire to falsify trees and ledge?
You will hear the testimony of Mr Peterson, the city of Middlebrook health
inspector, that there was no ledge.  You will hear the testimony of Mrs
Victoria Pennyworth that her yard contained no trees.  You will hear how
misters Patrick and Maxwell kept no financial records of their business, and
cannot document their expenditures.  Was there fraud?  Was the work done?
Were charges made in good faith?  You will be the sole arbiters of fact in
the case of Pennyworth v. P&M Landscaping in this week's office edition of
Play Along with Mike's Jury Duty!

Mike's Jury Duty starts early in the morning.  You have to get up at 6am and
head to the Cambridge City Courthouse before 8.  You then wait for 4 hours,
and get selected for a civil trial.  Civil trials in Massachusetts
apparently have seven jurors.  You are juror #4.  You and the other jurors
must march into and out of the courtroom jury box single file, in the order
of your seats.  It is very important to remember your place in line.  

The trial is about ledge: alleged ledge, and whether or not P&M Landscaping
had to remove it at an additional cost of $5,500.  Mrs. Pennyworth sold her
home and moved to Florida.  But the city stipulated that she must pay to
have a Title V compliant septic system installed.  For which she solicited
bids and chose P&M amongst three others, possibly because they were the
cheapest.  She then arranged to have a bank provide an escrow service,
holding 17k$ plus 8k$ for contingencies in an account, to secure work by
P&M.  Mrs. Pennyworth may or may not have left forward addresses and contact
info with her lawyer at the closing, and left for Florida. 

P&M make an estimate on the basis of plans drawn by a city septic engineer.
They leave an explicit, unquantified, clause in the estimate for possible
ledge removal.  Mr. Peterson testifies that "ledge" consists of rock in the
ground larger than 2.5' across.  Rocks smaller than that are called
"boulders."  Mr. Peterson testifies that upon his inspections, he saw no
ledge, merely boulders, although the hole had already been dug and a large
pile of pulverized rock sat next to the hole.  P&M produce Polaroids of a
hole, allegedly in Mrs. Pennyworth's yard, with specific ledge-drilling
equipment strewn about.

P&M have a contract with Pennyworth stating that any additional unforeseen
extras must be approved.  Any alleged ledge seems to have been a "foreseen"
extra.  However, tree removal was not.  They make inquiry to the bank's
escrow account allegedly regarding tree removal.  The bank sends an extra
2k$ to P&M, who construe this to be "approval" for tree removal.  The bank
sends notification, post facto, to Pennyworth, calling this extra
expenditure "equipment costs."

You the jury must now decide, 1) did P&M violate their contract with
Pennyworth? 2) if yes, how much in damages is Pennyworth entitled to? 3) Did
P&M mislead or misinform Pennyworth? 4) if yes, did they do so knowingly and
willfully? 

We remind you that it is your civic duty to attend GSB and this duty is
non-transferable and non-deferrable.  Jury deliberation commences at this
week's...


            +-                                                  -+
              girl scout benefit -+-  5:30 pm  -+- 32-G9 lounge
            +-                                                  -+

               For those coming from elsewhere: Building 32 is
                <http://whereis.mit.edu/map-jpg?selection=32>
           Once you are in 32, just take the G-elevator to the 9th
       floor and we will be in the lounge that you will be looking at
                     <http://projects.csail.mit.edu/gsb>





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