{"id":2385,"date":"2025-05-16T17:03:39","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T17:03:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/?p=2385"},"modified":"2025-05-22T15:57:02","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T15:57:02","slug":"2385-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/2385-2\/2385\/","title":{"rendered":"Third Party Liability"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n


Borstad McSingewad focuses. He feels uncomfortable talking to holographic jurors, despite it being years since the Jury Security Act passed, but out of habit, he walks to the jury display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBinaries and nonbinaries of the jury, Jonathan Blurt, is accused under the Third-Party Liability Act of responsibility for the actions of his putative<\/em> grandfather, a murderer convicted in-absentia<\/em>,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe prosecution alleges he would not exist had his grandfather, Aloysius, been convicted of his crimes. They say Aloysius couldn\u2019t have impregnated his wife, Berenice, because of his incarceration. The prosecution has tried to establish a Prima Facie<\/em> case denying my client\u2019s right to exist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cTheir case rests upon DNA records, which, as you all know, have been compulsory in the UK since 2032,\u201d he says as he walks over to pick up his eGo Tablet. Then, pointing at a document on the screen, he continues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re happy with DNA evidence, though, because we established Aloysius was not the sole bearer of his genetic profile.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe was a monozygotic twin. His twin, Anthony Zabaglione, was indentured to an organised crime family to pay gambling debts. This proves that another man could be Blurt\u2019s grandfather. That wouldn\u2019t alter the probabilities, except we have Berenice Blurt\u2019s journal, which I submit into evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet me read some excerpts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018June 1st<\/sup>. Aloysius is out again. We have had no marital relations for months. Cessy says I should have an affair, but with whom?\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThen we turn to her entry of June 12th<\/sup>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I met a man in town, an Anthony Zabaglione, who looks just like Aloysius. When I pointed this out, he proved to be charming and invited me to his apartment for tea. He is a perfect gentleman. I practically had to throw myself at him. He is, happily, a gentleman in the sheets too.<\/em>\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFinally, July 14th<\/sup>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018I\u2019m late. I will have to engage in coitus with Aloysius to cover it up.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis doesn\u2019t so much dent the prosecution\u2019s case as throw it in the dustbin and pour cat litter on it. Move to dismiss.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The jury quickly dismisses the charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, now you\u2019ve proved I\u2019m not Aloysius\u2019s grandson, it means my inheritance is void,\u201d Blurt says as they leave the court. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t know how I\u2019m going to pay your fees.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDon\u2019t worry,\u201d McSingewad replies. \u201cYour grandfather took over the crime syndicate, and you are heir to the Zabaglione gazillions. I am familiar with the Zabagliones, having successfully defended them, and they\u2019ve made an offer. I have sent it to your eGo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGazillions, you say?\u201d Blurt says. \u201cTell him I accept his generous offer and look forward to meeting up at his convenience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGood chap,\u201d says McSingewad. He types into his eGo. \u201cAll done, Mr Blurt, or should I say, Zabaglione? You are now very wealthy. Do you fancy a beer? We can discuss my additional fees for facilitating your inheritance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019d like that very much.\u201d Jonathan Zabaglione smiles and waves a hand to let his barrister lead the way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Borstad McSingewad focuses. He feels uncomfortable talking to holographic jurors, despite it being years since the Jury Security Act passed, but out of habit, he walks to the jury display. \u201cBinaries and nonbinaries of the jury, Jonathan Blurt, is accused under the Third-Party Liability Act of responsibility for the actions of his putative grandfather, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1490,1609],"tags":[845,1622,1621],"class_list":["post-2385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1490","category-may-2025-the-party","tag-scifi","tag-speculative-fiction","tag-third-party-liability"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-Ct","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2385"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2389,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2385\/revisions\/2389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}