Tale No. 1.

Your editor was in court a few years ago, listening to the law and motion calendar when a few lines from a Kenny Rogers song called “The Gambler” came to mind. “You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em/Know when to fold ‘em..”.

In the tentative ruling the judge had granted the moving party’s summary judgment motion, but the prevailing party’s attorney made argument after argument, despite the judge’s becoming visibly increasingly impatient … finally the judge “ruled”, reversing the tentative ruling on the grounds that the attorney had convinced him that his motion should not have been granted.