Poetry and the law

This is why judges have day jobs:

We thought that we would never see
A suit to compensate a tree.

A suit whose claim in tort is prest
Upon a mangled tree's behest;

A tree whose battered trunk was prest
Against a Chevy's crumpled crest;

A tree that faces each new day
With bark and limb in disarray;

A tree that may forever bear
A lasting need for tender care.

Flora lovers though we three,
We must uphold the court's decree.

(apparently in michigan, no fault insurance prevents you from filing claims when people drive into your trees; Fisher v. Lowe, 122 Mich. App. 418 for the geeks)