Silverman Law Firm LC

Court Deadline Prevents A Man From Proving He Is Alive

Oct 14, 2013 @ 11:56 AM — by Josh Silverman
Tagged with: Statute Of Limitations

Put this in the category of legal-lite.  A Ohio man who "took off" over 20 years ago was declared legally dead in 1994.  In an interesting twist he appeared before the same judge to have himself declared "undead."   Presumably without any medical training, the judge had no trouble determining that the gentleman is alive.  However, the judge found that he no longer had jurisdiction to reverse his prior ruling or otherwise declare him alive:

"We've got the obvious here. A man sitting in the courtroom, he appears to be in good health," Judge Davis said, according to The Courier. However, "I don't know where that leaves you, but you're still deceased as far as the law is concerned."

Statutes of limitations can bring about unfair results, but this is certainly the strangest I've ever heard of.