How do modern women deal with Don Giovanni?

Sue the bastard!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/09/arts/music/09clas.html?_r=1&ref=music&oref=slogin

Absolutely hilarious. A pity this wasn't open to the public and advertised (as far as I know), or even videoed - it would certainly be nice exposure for the singers involved, as well as instructive to lawyers who didn't attend the ABA convention. Doing something like this as a concert performance is a great idea - and I wouldn't put it past some nutso director to do this as an actual production of Don Giovanni.

I should point out, that although this seminar was about class-action lawsuits, not criminal law, most contemporary productions, even the sane ones, make Don Giovanni out to be a rapist, not merely someone who "intentionally inflicts emotional distress". And frankly, I don't think he does it "intentionally", he just doesn't care. And I'm sure somebody in a courtroom setting would comment on the need for an interpreter as the article heavily implies the characters sang in Italian.

On the other hand, using Mimi for a demonstration of medical malpractice? She was so poor she probably never got to see a doctor! (How long was she actually with the Viscount, anyway?) Violetta, an initially wealthy courtesan, maybe. Poor, sweet Dr. Grenvil...

As it happens, while on the bus yesterday I talked with a lawyer on her way home from the convention. She was from Atlanta and bemoaning the high Amtrak fares and luggage storage fees. No mention of the opera - maybe she wasn't one of the 50 people.

This reminds me of some mock court (I don't know what it's called, but it decides such weighty issues as who invented the fortune cookie) that convened to decide whether chicken soup could legally be called "the Jewish penicillin" as a) there's no proof chicken soup is curative/an antibiotic and b) just about every culture in the world has a chicken soup of some sort. Evidence came from a chicken (OK, an actor dressed as a chicken), and a quote from the great rabbi Maimonides (who happened to be the court physician to the Sultan of Egypt) who said "Chicken soup is good for you, but bad for the chicken". As a vegetarian, I'm totally sympathetic. Just like at the Bar Association, the decision was reserved, and everyone went out to their local diner to have some!

By the way, Maimonides, writing almost 1000 years ago, does better than many modern doctors about the human body. Basically, don't eat too much! His texts were used in medical schools for centuries after, making him almost as reknowned as a doctor as a rabbi/philosopher.