When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. - Hunter S. Thompson

11 December 2007

That must have been some really good General Tso's Chicken

The final will of a widow who left £10 million to the owners of a Chinese restaurant was upheld by the High Court yesterday - despite claims by her family that she did not know what she was doing.

A judge held that Golda "Goldie" Bechal understood the effect of the will, made in August 1994, in which she left almost her entire fortune to her long-standing "best friends", Kim Sing Man and his wife Bee Lian Man.

The court rejected a challenge by her five nephews and nieces - Sandra Blackman, Barbara Green, Laurence Lebor, Louise Barnard and Mervyn Lebor - who claimed that they were entitled to inherit her estate.

The case -- which, if the newspaper report is accurate, sounds like it was decided correctly -- features one of my favorite parts of the British system of jurisprudence:

If you sue somebody and lose, you pay the winner's court costs, including all legal fees.

The nephews and nieces who challenged the will were ordered by Mr Justice Rattee to pay the Mans' costs of £450,000.

Now there, by God, is tort reform for you.

Daily Telegraph (UK): Family loses £10m will to Chinese restaurant

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