A Lawyer named Protagoras teaches law for a hefty fee. He advertises his skills as a teacher by offering his students a contract, which states that they do not have to pay him until they have won their first case. If the student loses their first case, then they don't have to pay Protagoras at all.

One student of Protagoras sees a loophole, takes the course and fininshes it. After that, the student avoids arguing any cases. Since the student has not yet won his first case, he avoids paying Protagoras.

Protagoras feels cheated, and sues the student for his fee. When the case comes to trial, the student represents himself. If the student loses the case, then by the terms of their original agreement, there is no fee for the course. If the student wins the case however, then, since its the student's first case, there will be a fee. (But, of course, winning the case means that the student doesn't have to pay the fee, while losing it means that the fee must be paid.)

Will the student be obliged to pay Protagoras' fee or not?

(In reply to re(3): Solution by levik)

I understood that's what you meant, and it's an ingenius approach. But it requires that the first trial ends (normally) before the student can counter-sue

The problem is that the first trial can't end (unless the judge simply declares a mis-trial) because as soon as the judge announces a decision, it becomes moot, and so no valid decision can be announced.

Posted by TomM on 2002-10-20 08:57:42