Magic on the Mountain

To me, there's always a little magic on the Mountain.  Good, memorable things just seem to happen every time we're here.  

Yesterday, while the four of us were at the Fowler Center, playing tennis, then pickle ball, we ran into Walter Kurrtz, one of my favorite people.  Walter was a Circuit Court Judge in Davidson County (Nashville) for many years.  I appeared in front of him on several occasions, most memorably in a trial of a small claims court appeal - Sonya Henderson v. Jerry Harlan - in which my close friend, Worrick Robinson and I went toe-to-toe. 

This was in the mid-1990's.  Worrick beat me in a bench trial (no jury), when Judge Kurtz refused to allow me to voluntarily dismiss my client's appeal from small claims court.  My client, Jerry Henderson, was a character, to be sure.  As I recall, he wanted me to play tapes of conversation he had with Ms. Henderson which I did, on a large jam box.  It was a landlord-tenant case and the facts were unsavory.  I was very uncomfortable and Jerry Henderson wasn't happy with the Judge's Kurtz'a decision, particularly since it included an award of monetary damages against him.  

One of things I recall this most, though, is that after the trial, as I was licking my wounds outside the courtroom before I got own the elevator and walked back to my office at Manier, Herod, Judge Kurtz sent his longtime court officer, Joe, out to talk to me.  Joe passed along to me that Judge Kurtz thought I had done a good job with the facts that I had.  He also told me that Judge Kurtz knew, as a young associate, I didn't always get to pick my clients.

Those words from Judge Kurtz meant the world to me, as a young lawyer.  He was a judge that I respected - a judge we all respected - and for him to have the thoughtfulness to send Joe out to talk with me and share an encouraging word or two was a kindness I will never forget.  I've tried to do the same thing when I have a case against a young lawyer and I have the facts or the client is difficult.  

I appealed Judge Kurtz's ruling on the issue of whether my client could voluntarily dismiss his appeal from small claims court.  I wrote the brief and argued the case in the Tennessee Court of Appeals.  Fittingly, I got the last laugh when the Court of Appeals agreed with me and reversed Judge Kurtz's decision.  In the end, Jerry Harlan and I got the win.  It's a reported case.  June 11, 1997.  You can look it up.

Everything Walter Kurtz said in Court, he said with a twinkle in his eye and an almost grin on his face.  His judicial temperament was A +.  Inquisitive.  Highly intelligent.  Interested in what the attorneys had to say.  He always seemed happy to be a judge.  

That's a long story, to be sure, but it was a treat to see Walter Kurtz at the Fowler Center yesterday.  Later, walking Abbo's Alley on the way back to house, Jude stopped by and visited with Walter and his wife, Ellen Hobbs Lyle.  Judge Lyle was a Chancellor in Davidson County for many years.  Jude and I are big fans of her, too.  She and Walter are a delightful couple, to say the least.  Years ago, on a run across from MBA on a route I've not run since, I happened upon them in the front yard of their house on a secluded street off West End Avenue.

Today at 10 a.m., Jude is going to hike the Fiery Gizzard with her friend, Betty Teasley.  Betty was displaced from her home in Asheville, NC, after the recent flooding.  As I understand it, she is living temporarily in a home her family owns in Monteagle.  Betty always has been one of my favorite's of Jude's friends and I'm happy that Jude is going to get to spend some time with her today.  

After we played pickle ball yesterday, Joe and I flopped down in the high jump pit - or what passes for the high jump pit - and talked for a few minutes.  He had left me a thoughtful, handwritten note when he and Jude left for the Mountain Tuesday night.  Apparently, at school, one of his teachers had asked the students to write an note of gratitude to someone.  He chose me.  I'll save the note forever, of course.  I wanted Joe to know how much I appreciate him and treasure our relationship.  I also wanted him to know how proud I am of him.  

Those kind of moments just seem to happen on the Mountain.  Magic moments.