I love trial lawyers. Especially good plaintiff's lawyers. Like John O'Quinn, a Texas trial lawyer, who won literally billions of dollars for his clients, in difficult cases against gargantuan companies.

John was not immortal. He skidded off the highway and got himself killed earlier this year. And his common-law "wife" (not legally married, but they had the ceremony, the ring, and all sorts of oral promises to take care of her financially) didn't get to keep the cars he gave her.

In this Bloomberg article (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-13/lawyer-s-lover-loses-his-corvettes-1936-mercedes-ann-woolner.html), author Ann Woolner reports that his wife and lover sought to keep the cars he gave her - to the point, apparently, of getting testimony of witnesses that the couple treated the cars as "hers" - alas, to no avail.

A note of sadness: his to-do list was found and he had scribbled "will change for D." - referring to Darla Lexington, John's "wife." He meant to leave her more than the $2 million life insurance policy. But the quote from John's Estate's lawyer says it all: "What's relevant in the eyes of the law is not what people say he was going to do, but rather what he actually did.”

Every now and then a client will send me an email saying "hey, if I die, make sure the cats are taken care of" [or whatever]. Reminder: that's great, but we really need to set it up the normal way if you want it to work. Yes, its a pain in the butt, but the alternative is a bigger pain the many butts of the many people whom we leave behind.

And finally: please drive the speed limit.