Maryland Court Quotes Seinfeld in Legal Opinion
Though attorney Jackie Chiles was not presenting arguments in the ongoing legal dispute between author Tom Clancy and his wife over division of marital assets in their divorce, the Maryland Court of Appeals used a page directly out of a script for the hit ’90s television sitcom “Seinfeld” in their ruling on the case, Law.com reports. Â
Clancy’s ex-wife claimed that Clancy removed his name from a series of books originally titled “Tom Clancy’s Op-Center” (which Clancy did not write) just so that he would not be paid royalties that he would have to divide with her.  The question before the court was whether Clancy had acted in good faith when he decided to remove his name from the book series.
The final decision returned the case to a lower court, as the appellate court decided that there was potentially competing evidence of Clancy’s motivations. Â In making their decision, the court cited a Seinfeld episode titled “The Wig Master,” in which Jerry Seinfeld attempts to return a jacket to a men’s clothing store, as he puts it, “for spite.”
The court used this example to demonstrate how contractual good faith works, that Seinfeld was beholden to act in good faith toward the other party as part of the store’s item returns policy.
It’s a strange example, to be sure, but surprisingly relevant to the case at hand.  In other words, the example “fit like a glove.”Â
