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Sumpter v. Matteson (Cal. Ct. App. - Jan. 10, 2008)

By Shaun Martin

On the merits, I think that this opinion is exactly right. But it's about a simple car accident, and there's not much about the application of the law that merits extensive discussion.

I nonetheless mention it because I couldn't help but smile at one of the lines in the opinion. Justice Klein is talking about what the defendant did right before he got high on meth and into his car (which, as you might imagine, subsequently crashed into someone). The factual recitation starts out pretty routinely, and says: "On February 25, 2002, the day of the accident, Matteson spent the afternoon at home, where he was using methamphetamines. Matteson ingested drugs right before he left his house. By his own admission, Matteson knew he was under the influence when he got into his car."

Just your regular basic facts. But then there's this great sentence, which made me laugh out loud: "He was planning on taking a mini-vacation and packed a suitcase of drugs, including marijuana, a vial of ketamine, eight bottles of GHB as well as cocaine."

I don't know why, but I found the use of the term "mini-vacation" hilarous. Especially when followed by the detailed list of all the drugs that were to entail this vacation.

Anyway, I chuckled. And imagined the wry smile on Justice Klein's face as she penned this line.

Full post as published by California Appellate Report on February 01, 2008 (boomark / email).