As a kid, I watched over the backyard fence enviously as heavy equipment began digging where the next-door neighbor's back lawn had once been.  They were putting in a swimming pool – a pool, of course, being the ultimate status symbol of our Los Angeles suburban neighborhood. And what a swimming pool it was.  A stone waterfall, a hand-laid brick deck, lush greenery – my brother and I couldn't wait for an invitation to dive on in.  Many hot L.A. summers were spent in that pool, owing to the benevolence of neighborly neighbors. ...until a front-page L.A. Times article was printed, that was.  Turns out a homeowner was successfully sued by the parents of a child who had drowned in his backyard pool.  The child did not have permission to enter the property or the pool.  The "attractive nuisance" doctrine was the tort.  This was my first exposure to absurdity in...(Read Full Post)