DADDY'S ASPHALT DRIVEWAY

One of the collateral benefits of being the first lawyer in the family is that you become the resource person for all things legal big or small and rightly so! I recall the time that daddy called me about a small claims suit that had been filed against him by a neighbor, with respect to an asphalt driveway that daddy had put in for him. Daddy said that he had given the man a break on the already-fair price to begin with. Still, the man was complaining about nothing. I knew the man to whom Daddy made reference, but had had no dealings with him, ever. And that man knew of me from growing up there. I told Daddy to take some pictures of that driveway and to take those pictures along with his asphalt receipts with him to Small Claims Court in Clayton, Missouri. Then, I forgot all about it and went back to working. About a month later Daddy called back and told me that he had won his case! He said that the judge threw the case out, after he saw the receipts and pictures. He said the judge had really perked up when the neighbor had mumbled, "His son is a lawyer," under his breath. The judge asked "Your son is a lawyer?" Daddy replied "Yes." The judge then asked him where I had gone to law school, and where I was then working? When Daddy told him that I had graduated from Howard Law School and that I was then an Assistant United States Attorney in Kansas City, the judge smiled and said, "Mr. Coleman, you've done a fine job. Case dismissed. Costs to defendant." Needless to say, this made me and Daddy very happy.