'He escaped consequences': 10+ court fails where lawyers found loopholes and judges threw out the cases

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Apr 3, 2024 2:00 PM EDT

Most lawyers will tell you not to count on niche loopholes to get you out of trouble. However, every so often these lawyers worked on a case where the details and specifics were vague enough to get a case thrown out. These are obviously few and far between, but one would imagine that discovering said loopholes might make one feel like the next Elle Woods. As we know, she was able to protect Brooke Windham in the end because of a hole in Chutney's perm story. Whatever it takes to protect your client, I guess.

These stories were compiled from the following r/AskReddit thread and included surprising loopholes relating to parking signs, the precise definition of stealing, and poorly written tickets by police officers. Keep scrolling below for the full stories. When you're done, feel free to take a look at this collection of the top mildly infuriating moments of the week.

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  • 01
    "Case dismissed"
    via Tingey Injury Law Firm
  • 02
    r/AskReddit. Posted by u/Meme_Collector_GG 18 hours ago Lawyers of reddit, what's the wildest loophole D you've seen exploited in a courtroom that succeeded?
    via u/Meme_Collector_GG
  • 03
    nolalaw9781 · 15 hr. ago. edited 14 hr. ago I racked up parking tickets in law school, only to find out that the district had changed but the signs were never removed. The street behind the school was in a different district-one with no time limit on parking. The neighbors didn't want students parking for hours on end so they treated it as de facto timed parking.
    via u/Meme_Collector_GG
  • 04
    I defeated the tickets but only after the contentious hearing where the hearing office asked me why I thought it was ok to park wherever I wanted despite the signs. I said the signs don't matter if they're not legal and he said enforcement (meter maids) go by the signs, not the map. I asked if I could just put up signs wherever I wanted to not have people park and they would enforce it? He didn't have answer for that one...
    via u/Meme_Collector_GG
  • 05
    It really bothered me that the school made a big deal about getting a dispensation on parking time during exams, because the exams were an hour longer than you could park. 2.8k Reply Share
    via u/Meme_Collector_GG
  • 06
    . Orange Kid 15 hr. ago There really aren't loopholes like that where people dramatically win a case in court based on a word in a statute no one else read or whatever it is you're thinking of.
    via u/Meme_Collector_GG
  • 07
    Closest thing I can think of...I knew of a criminal defense attorney that had a slight foreign accent. When he had a lost cause of a case, in court he would sometimes play up the accent heavily, pretend to understand less English than he really did, generally play dumb, etc. This was juxtaposed with one of the best prosecutor offices in the country who were all very polished. His hope was the jury might feel sorry for his client and acquit him even if they thought he was guilty because it felt l
    via u/Meme_Collector_GG
  • 08
    RockySterling 15 hr. ago Still in law school but I'm amazed at how few loopholes there are; I'm always on the lookout but there's usually some catch-all, some provision, some exception, some countervailing doctrine that prevents it. The closest thing I've found to a clear loophole is that some items are exempted from the list of what can be seized to satisfy a judgment against you, but without specifying a maximum value. Like under NY's CPLR 5205, even though exempt books can't exceed $500 in va
    via u/Meme_Collector_GG
  • 09
    civex 15 hr. ago The wildest loopholes I've seen are really tame - the cops made mistakes. A truck driver given a ticket for driving an overweight truck over a bridge, and the cop didn't weigh the truck. A guy given a ticket for failure to to yield at an intersection when he did a U- turn in the middle of a highway causing an oncoming driver to rear end him. Stupid stuff like that. 528 Reply Share
    via u/Meme_Collector_GG
  • 10
    showMeYourPitties10. 8 hr. ago I got in a no injury car accident, gave the cops my insurance which had both my name and my dad's name. I'm a male with a name that is normally a females name. Cop wrote the ticket to my dad because he assumed who I was by names on the insurance. When I went to court to pay the fine, the judge told me I couldn't represent my dad. When I explained that he was living very far away from the accident and I was the driver, the judge said well you have no ticket, and you
    via u/Meme_Collector_GG
  • 11
    chriswaco 12 hr. ago I'm not a lawyer, but this was a fun one to watch: Someone received a speeding ticket on Main Street in Ann Arbor. He proves that 85% of drivers on that road drive faster than the speed limit and argues that the limit was improperly set under Michigan's anti speed trap law. Judge agrees and ticket is thrown out. If everyone speeds, nobody does! 507 Reply Share
    via u/Meme_Collector_GG
  • 12
    jcarlosfox 13 hr. ago Not a loophole, but a fun one just the same. The Defense witness destroyed my case. Destroyed it. I was going to lose. I had just one question: "Didn't you offer to sell your testimony to my client?" Answer: "Yes, but we never came to an agreement." We settled in the hall after the Defense attorney quickly asked for a recess. 414 Reply Share
    via u/Meme_Collector_GG
  • 13
    Pippin1505 9 hr. ago edited 5 hr. ago From LegalEagle, not a loophole but more a grievous malpractice: Some lawyers tried to use ChatGPT to write their brief. The language model hallucinated and invented court cases and references. They filed it anyway.
    via u/Meme_Collector_GG
  • 14
    Opposing party candidly asked the judge: "We don't seem to be able to find the mentioned cases in any of the legal databases. Could they please provide sources?" Judge frowned. Lawyers sweated, tried to play dumb and asked for time while they used again ChatGPT to write the fake cases. Judge was not amused. They got disbarred. 161 Reply Share
    via u/Meme_Collector_GG
  • 15
    wotevrs 15 hr. ago A lawyer acquaintance knew of a few places where there were 'no parking' signs but the areas were somehow missed in the by-laws. He defeated all the tickets. 141 Reply Share
    via u/Meme_Collector_GG
  • 16
    shottylaw 14 hr. ago I am a lawyer. I specialize in tax and litigation (civil, not criminal tax). The biggest loophole is money. Can you pay your lawyer to be as creative and annoying as you can. It's literally that simple.
    via u/Meme_Collector_GG
  • 17
    NewFraige 11 hr. ago There was one guy who owed $464 million in bond and his lawyers said he couldn't pay it and didn't have the money to pay it. He then went on to say he did in fact have the money but didn't want to pay it so they appealed hoping to lower it. The day of the deadline, a court announced they'd be lowering the bond to $175 million. It was a crazy loophole, he escaped consequences.
    via u/Meme_Collector_GG
  • 18
    ew435890 12 hr. ago My dad is a lawyer and was telling me a story the other day. My older brother switched highschools right before his senior year to play football for a coach that my dad was really good friends with. Normally you have to sit out a year if you transfer. But my dad knew of a rule in the state bylaws that says a judges order saying they are eligible makes them eligible to play. So he went to his judge buddies house, and got him to amend the custody agreement, basically saying he
    via u/Meme_Collector_GG
  • 19
    • Smaptastic 4 hr. ago Criminal defendants charged with stealing an item must be charged with stealing an item FROM someone. That someone must be a legal entity. I once represented a guy who was charged with stealing dog food. He was homeless and trying to feed his dog. Needless to say, I was sympathetic, so I was willing to pull something of a dirty trick for him. I queued him up for trial. As soon as the first witness was sworn in, I moved to dismiss. The entity he was charged with stealing fr
    via u/Meme_Collector_GG
  • 20
    Case immediately dismissed. Since a witness had been sworn in, double jeopardy prevented them from trying him again.
    via u/Meme_Collector_GG

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