Cellphones, Email Scandals, Law Schools, Rudeness, Vicious Infighting

'How To Handle This?'(By not sending out over the law school list-serv?)

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When you’ve been wronged, there’s a part of you that wants the whole world to know. Maybe you think exposing the evildoer’s misdeeds will bring solace, revenge, sympathy… But more often than not, it brings scorn. People just don’t like tattletales.
Several tipsters sent along such an exchange from the University of Michigan’s law school list-serv. Here’s the catfight one law student sent out to the list-serv with the subject line, “not sure how to handle this:”

On Thu, Jul 24, 2008 at 11:22 PM, TATTLETALE wrote:
EVILDOER,
Listen, I tried to be nice and understanding about all this but now it’s just ridiculous! I did you a favor and now I’ve been stuck hounding you for my phone for months and months as if you’re doing ME the favor! I bought that phone for $120, so either send me a check for that amount or return the phone ASAP…
I’m not going to lecture you about how this is no way to treat a law school class mate and definately [sic] no way to start making your reputation in the legal community — hopefully you realize all that. Just return the phone or the money so I can finally forget about this after half a year!
-TATTLETALE
————————————————————————————
Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2008 08:01:52 +0200
From: EVILDOER
Subject: Re: phone
To: TATTLETALE
You f***ing nasty b****,
My sister is gonna give you a f***ing check that you can f***ing hold onto until I come back from rome.
EVILDOER
On Fri, Jul 25, 2008 at 7:54 AM, EVILDOER wrote:
I AM INF ***ING ROME YOU STUPID W****. I SAID I WILL MAIL IT TO YOU ONCE I
GET BACK. NO REASON TO BE A F***ING B****.

Is bar exam stress driving Michigan students over the edge?
Full exchange (warning: unredacted profanity), plus a bevy of responses, after the jump.
(We’ve redacted identities — and appreciate your protecting anonymity in the comments. Thanks.)


Here’s the original e-mail, followed by the list-serv responses. We’ve taken the liberty of giving nicknames to the respondents (to preserve anonymity):

Subject: now sure how to handle this…
From: TATTLETALE
Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2008 11:43:32 -0400
Here’s an email I received from a fellow law student yesterday.
background: I lent this girl my spare cellphone in Jan or Feb. I don’t know her, I just answered her lawopen request to borrow a phone for a few weeks. Fast-forward to half a year and 3-4 emails from me later (all very nice, all of the “hope your semester is going great, just wondering when you’ll be done with my phone” variety) and I’m still sitting here phone-less and feeling like an idiot for begging her for my phone back as if she’s doing me the favor. A few days ago I sent a more firm email just demanding my phone
back already (you can see it below if you’re interested), and this is what I got back from her (for some reason 2 separate replies):
—– Forwarded message from REDACTED—–
Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2008 08:01:52 +0200
From: EVILDOER
Subject: Re: phone
To: TATTLETALE
You fucking nasty bitch,
My sister is gonna give you a fucking check that you can fucking hold onto until I come back from rome.
EVILDOER
On Fri, Jul 25, 2008 at 7:54 AM, EVILDOER wrote:
I AM INF UCKING [sic] ROME YOU STUPID WHORE. I SAID I WILL MAIL IT TO YOU ONCE I
GET BACK. NO REASON TO BE A FUCKING BITCH.
On Thu, Jul 24, 2008 at 11:22 PM, TATTLETALE wrote:
EVILDOER,
Listen, I tried to be nice and understanding about all this but now it’s just ridiculous! I did you a favor and now I’ve been stuck hounding you for my phone for months and months as if you’re doing ME the favor! I bought that phone for $120, so either send me a check for that amount or return the phone ASAP.
I’m leaving Ann Arbor, so my new address is: ….
I’m not going to lecture you about how this is no way to treat a law school class mate and definately no way to start making your reputation in the legal community — hopefully you realize all that. Just return the phone or the money so I can finally forget about this after half a year!
-TATTLETALE
—– End forwarded message —–

Subject: Re: now sure how to handle this…
From: DR. MICHIGAN
Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2008 12:51:55 -0700
TATTLETALE,
It looks more like you are airing your dirty laundry in public rather than asking lawopen how to deal with this situation. You HAVE in fact found a method of dealing with it, which is to try and show all of lawopen how horrible and unreasonable you think this person is. We have not been privy to the exchanges in between you, and for all we know there could be much more to the story. It is also interesting that you lent someone your phone 6 months ago, and did not seem to get serious about its return until after the semester had ended.
You may be having a real problem with the person to whom you’ve lent your phone, and you may be truly aggrieved and deserving of compensation, but lawopen, or any other public forum, is probably not the best place to address this particular issue, and just makes you look vindictive. Though the tone of her message was less than friendly, she has suggested a way to resolve the problem (her sister giving you a check to hold) so what exactly do you need help figuring out how to handle?
DR. MICHIGAN

Subject: Re: now sure how to handle this…
From: RANDOM MICHIGAN
Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2008 14:22:56 -0400
She is obviously just lashing out because she couldn’t get any recommendations for doctors in Rome.

Subject: Re: now sure how to handle this…
From: SARCASTIC MICHIGAN
Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:57:47 -0400
Thank you, Randy Cohen. I can’t wait to read your next column in the NY Times magazine tomorrow.

Subject: Re: now sure how to handle this…
From: MEAN MICHIGAN
Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2008 16:07:41 -0400
Thanks for your analysis, DR. MICHIGAN. How much do you charge per session?

Subject: Re: now sure how to handle this…
From: SICK-OF-THIS MICHIGAN
Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2008 16:08:29 -0400
Please remove me from this list. Thanks.

Subject: Re: now sure how to handle this…
From: SMACKDOWN MICHIGAN
Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2008 17:03:04 -0400
If you hadn’t identified her, I would’ve found this to be an entertaining story. Now it just looks like a smear campaign.
Sorry about your phone. We’ll all be sure to beat down EVILDOER upon her return to Ann Arbor. That’s what you’re requesting, right?

Subject: Re: now sure how to handle this…
From: TATTLETALE
Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2008 19:13:06 -0400
It’s not a “smear campaign” if she’s smearing herself. I didn’t take anything out of context, just pasted her email, which spoke for itself obviously.
As for me airing my “dirty laundry” on lawopen, when you email a perfect stranger something really hateful (like she did to me) you can’t honestly expect privacy. I chose to let the law school community know what happened, if you don’t agree with that it’s cool.
Anyway, I’m studying for the bar so I’m not devoting any more time to this.
Thanks to everyone who emailed me with their outrage and kind words!!

Subject: TATTLETALE is my hero
From: DELIRIOUS MICHIGAN
Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2008 21:01:25 -0400
TATLETALE’S email is perhaps the best thing that has ever happened to lawopen. I can’t stop laughing. Thank you for bringing pleasure to my life. I can’t have jager because of bar review, but at least I can keep laughing at this email.
-DELIRIOUS MICHIGAN

Subject: How to handle this: The real question is….
From: SERIOUS MICHIGAN LAW STUDENT
Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2008 23:56:38 -0400
If TATTLETALE took the check as security for the phone without notice of any other claims on the phone, would the check be negotiable?
And if she indorsed the instrument to a third-party to discharge the debt, would the original security interest be extinguished?
And what if she, by operation of will, devised the check and the underlying debt to her issue and their heirs, would the Rule in Shelley’s case apply? Even if her domicile at the time of the conveyance was Guam?

Just another fun Saturday in Michigan. Good luck on the bar, folks!

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