Dee -- Thank you for that eye-opener. That could be your saying -- "It just is" -- since Tom Jones has already taken "It depends." -- Harold Harold Henderson, CG midwestroots.net *Finding Ancestors in Fort Wayne: The Genealogist's Unofficial One-Stop Guide to the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center * http://www.midwestroots.net/ <http://www.midwestroots.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/ACPLGC-April-2013.pdf> Certified Genealogist (SM) No. 1029 Certified Genealogist and CG are proprietary service marks of the Board for Certification of Genealogists® used by the Board to identify its program of genealogical competency evaluation and used under license by the Board’s associates. On Wed, Dec 31, 2014 at 9:49 AM, <[email protected]> wrote: > There is a mineral rights case in Zapata County TX in which right at 3,000 > plaintiffs are named. Perhaps a year after the judge declared for the > plaintiffs, an older family member named in the case - and a pretty good > amateur > genealogist - met with me. She showed where about 300 of the names were > spouses > of heirs, but not legal heirs. Approximately 65 were deceased well before > the > suit was filed, with no mention of them being deceased. Nor was the "heirs > and > assigns" language in the document. That declaration of heirship is filled > with > "legal fiction." I looked for the case file for the cause number, but this > client work is so old that it must be in storage. > > Ten years ago I focused my business on forensic genealogy. My thoughts > were - > it's the law, it will be all black and white. Pfffft. Far from it. A > probate > attorney email list I monitor is filled with contradictory advice from > some of > the top probate attorneys in the state, examples of case law that don't > seem to > agree, examples of how something in the family code conflicts with > something in > the probate code, and occasionally requests for advice for how the current > attorney on a case can clean up a mess created by the previous attorney. > > Jokes to the contrary, attorneys and judges are human. Not all of them > are as > educated as others, not all are as industrious as others, not all are as > ethical > as others. They make mistakes, they misinterpret, details can slip past > them, > and sometimes they take what they have and just punt. It's called > "arguing" > because it's recognized that there are differing opinions and laws that may > apply. And that's why there are appeals courts. > > Sometimes when we see things like this in genealogy, the answer seems to > be - it > just is. As Michael Ramage pointed out, you can't legally sue a dead > person (as > determined by jurisdiction). But dead people do get named in suits. We can > research all the laws and possibilities. But, was it lack of knowledge of > death, > an interpretation of the law, a typo that wasn't removed, or a long punt? > Sometimes the answer is - it just is. > > Dee > > > On December 31, 2014 at 6:38 AM Billie Elias via > > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Sharon, > > I'm no lawyer, but about 20 years ago I was a juror on an asbestos trial. > > There were 4 plaintiffs who had been harmed by exposure to asbestos, 2 of > > whom were deceased. > > > > So, Sharon, I believe the answer is yes, at least in more current years. > It > > is possible that laws could have changed since the era of interest to > you. > > > > Billie Elias > > www.genealogygal.wordpress.com > > -- > Dee Dee King, Certified Genealogist (sm), Certificate 903 > Forensic Genealogy Services LLC > Contract Genealogist, US Navy POW/MIA Branch > > Mail address - PO Box 1085, Manvel TX 77578 > Telephone/fax 281-595-3090 > www.forensicgenealogyservices.com www.facebook.com/forensicgenealogist > > Certified Genealogist (CG) is a service mark (sm) of the Board for > Certification > of Genealogists®, conferred to > associates who consistently meet ethical and competency standards in > accord with > peer-reviewed evaluations every > five years, and the board name is registered in the US Patent & Trademark > Office. > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >