Thursday, October 10, 2013

Court rejects man's argument, affirms legally dead ruling

In the United States, there are very few times when someone walking into a court of law to argue his position can really feel like he has a bulletproof case.  The law is open to interpretation, and our adversarial proceedings encourage lawyers to be creative in those interpretations.

However, until recently, someone on his way to court to attempt to reverse a ruling that he is legally dead should have felt pretty secure in his ability to do so.  After all, showing up in the courtroom and demonstrating an independent ability to walk, talk, and otherwise accomplish tasks reserved for the living should be acceptable evidence of life no matter what the jurisdiction.

Sadly, this was not the case for Donald Miller, Jr., who was declared legally dead by the state of Ohio in 1994.  Earlier this week, Miller went to court to get the ruling reversed so that he could get a driver's license and, hopefully, a job.  Judge Allan Davis of Hancock County, Ohio ruled on the side of Miller's wife, who has been collecting social security death benefits since Miller was declared legally dead.  Davis noted that the law does not allow a declaration of legal death to be overturned after 3 years.  I am certainly no proponent of judicial activism, but this case makes me think perhaps it does have its place, after all.

Miller, who cannot afford to appeal, is just going to have to live with being dead.  What I am wondering now is, if his social security number is going to come up in the records of the federal government as belonging to a dead man, does that mean that if he does find a job of some kind, he does not have to pay taxes?  I would certainly hope so.  If nothing else, the whole thing really makes me question the veracity of the old adage about the certainty of death and taxes.

Posted by at
Labels: ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)