Legal News

Does an All-Knowing God Need Notice of a Lawsuit?

By Ashby Jones

If God were sued, would one have to serve God with papers? After all, one might argue, an all-knowing God might not exactly need notice.

No, this question wasn’t dreamed up by a group of 1Ls after partying it up with Michael Phelps. It’s an actual argument made by a former Nebraska state senator who, yes, sued God back in 2007.

The purpose of the suit, says Ernie Chambers of Omaha, who has a law degree from Creighton University, was to uphold citizens’ rights to sue “anyone else, even God.” Chambers said he filed the suit in response to legislation to limit so-called frivolous lawsuits.

A Nebraska state judge dismissed the lawsuit, and in so doing apparently felt the need to make the point that there was no evidence that God had been served in the case. He added that “there can never be service effectuated” on God. Click here for the story, from the Omaha World-Herald.

In his appeal, Chambers said not only that God would know he was being sued, but the judge abused his discretion by dismissing the lawsuit “with prejudice,” meaning it cannot be refiled. In papers filed Monday, Chambers added that it was inconsistent for the court “to take judicial notice of God in order to administer oaths and to enter an order to dismiss . . . yet simultaneously deny that the all-knowing God has notice of the petition.”

But hold on. If this story already sounds like it could have been ripped from the Onion, get this: The court of appeals reportedly gave Chambers until Feb. 24 to file a statement of jurisdiction in the case and to show that he had notified Lincoln attorney John DeCamp, who has asked to represent God. DeCamp, another former state senator, is among a handful of people, from Texas to Sweden, who have filed court documents seeking to be God’s lawyer in the case. DeCamp told the World-Herald: “If they want to go to court, we’re willing to take God’s side.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on February 11, 2009 (boomark / email).