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Loco Lawsuits: Suing God
People sometimes sue God trying to prove a point; other times the reasons are far more irrational
One of the things taught first-year law students is the procedure to get someone into court. Two of the most fundamental principles are that the court has to have jurisdiction over the defendant and the defendant has to be served with notice of the suit. These can be stumbling blocks when a deity, God, say, is a party to a lawsuit.
One of the more publicized lawsuits against God was filed in Nebraska in 2007. Then-State Senator Ernie Chambers asked a state court for a permanent injunction against God. Among other things, Chambers alleged God had caused and would continue to cause “calamitous catastrophes resulting in the widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth’s inhabitants including innocent babes, infants, children, the aged and infirm without mercy or distinction.” These events included “fearsome floods, egregious earthquakes, horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornados [sic], pestilential plagues, ferocious famines, devastating drouths [sic], genocidal wars, birth defects, and the like.”
Chambers admitted that, “despite reasonable efforts,” to serve God with the lawsuit he had been unable to do so. That shouldn’t matter, he alleged, because…
