https://www.fool.com/investing/valu...-things-overhead-at-the-paneraqdoba-hear.aspx
The Top 10 things overheard at the Panera/Qdoba hearing:
10. Objection, your Honor! That's delicious!
9. Can we get them on the rule that a "u" must always follow a "q?"
8. Didn't Clinton question the definition of the word "is" in his defense?
7. OK, OK, but can I talk you into ruling that our Crispani flatbread pizzas are tostadas?
6. That's "nacho" decision to make, Your Honor.
5. Jack's head looks much bigger on TV.
4. I knew that a baker's dozen would be an unlucky number.
3. The Earl of Sandwich was most definitely not from Mexico.
2. Great! Now our landlord is putting a Chipotle (NYSE:CMG) in our restroom.
And the number one thing overhead at the Panera/Qdoba hearing is .
1. If the bread doesn't fit, you must remit!
-------------------------
But, MA's courts seem to find, um, conveniently on the issue:
White City v. PR Restaurants,
No. 2006196313. (Mass. Cmmw. Oct. 31, 2006)
In a similar case, the court held a taco, burrito or quesadilla is NOT a sandwich. They gave a similar definition as used in the case mentioned in the tread previously ("The New Webster Third International Dictionary describes a "sandwich" as "two thin pieces of bread, usually buttered, with a thin layer (as of meat, cheese, or savory mixture) spread between them."") and came to the conclusion that common sense shows a tortilla is NOT "bread" so a taco, burrito or quesadilla is NOT a sandwich. When it was pointed out to the court there was controlling authority saying that a corn tortilla IS bread, the court distinguished the holding by saying:
In
Sabritas, the International Trade Court applied the commercial meaning, rather than the ordinary meaning of bread, to corn tacos shells for purposes of levying tariffs.
22 C.I.T. at 59 (Ct. Int'l Trade 1998). Here, the commercial meaning of "bread" is inapposite where it is the ordinary meaning that is relevant when interpreting an unambiguous contractual term such as"sandwiches." Ober,
318 Mass at 39.
------------------
Apparently, Scalia said about the sandwich case, "Important Decisions sometimes come in small packages". He "stated himself that he believed that Panera’s claim was ridiculous. I refuse the basic premise that an expert may simply state that he or she, “does not think something should be”". (
https://www.onesandwich.com/one-sandwich-blog/)
But, Posner disagrees (
https://www.memphisdailynews.com/news/2016/feb/11/show-me-the-bread-two-slices-please//print):
“Dictionaries are mazes in which judges are soon lost.” Thus said Judge
Richard Posner (7th Circuit Court of Appeals) in a review of “Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Texts” by Justice Antonin Scalia and legal lexicographer
Bryan Garner.
“Omitting contrary evidence,” Posner wrote, is the authors’ “favorite rhetorical device.”
Posner posited that Scalia and Garner “applaud” a 2006 Massachusetts case called White City Shopping Center v. PR Restaurants, 21 Mass. L. Rptr. 565. In which it was held that the word “sandwiches” in a lease did not include tacos, burritos, and quesadillas. Why? In essence, say Scalia and Garner, because a dictionary definition cited by the trial court gives a sandwich two pieces of bread, and tacos have only one. Scalia and Garner imply that the dictionary definition controlled, claims Posner, whereas the trial court went beyond that limit.
Facts. Panera Bread had an exclusivity clause in its lease – which its attorney had drafted – with a mall in Shrewsbury, Mass. In this clause the landlord agreed not to lease to another “restaurant reasonably expected to have annual sales of sandwiches greater than ten percent (10 percent) of its total sales.” The lease did not define sandwiches, nor was the definition thereof part of the negotiations.
Along came a Qdoba grill – with burritos, tacos and quesadillas – that the landlord wanted to land. Learning of this, Panera’s lawyers sought assurance that the new tenant would not be selling too many tacos, burritos and quesadillas. The landlord filed suit, asking the court for a declaratory judgment. Think: “Judge, tell these guys that a taco is not a sandwich!”
Citing Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language (2002), the court quoted a definition of sandwich: “two thin pieces of bread, usually buttered, with a thin layer (as of meat, cheese, or savory mixture) spread between them.” The court wrote that “Under this definition and as dictated by common sense, … the term ‘sandwich’ is not commonly understood to include burritos, tacos, and quesadillas, which are typically made with a single tortilla and stuffed with … meat, rice, and beans.”
Hmm. My 1983 Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate’s first definition is “a slice of bread covered with a filling …, which is usually covered with another slice. …” The court noted that “The parties have submitted numerous dictionary definitions for the term “sandwich,” as well as expert affidavits” and that Panera didn’t proffer “evidence that the parties intended … ‘sandwiches’ to include burritos, tacos, and quesadillas”; and that Panera, as drafter of the clause in question, had a significant burden of proof – especially given that it was seeking a preliminary injunction by way of counterclaim.
Posner’s beef is that Scalia and Garner (two big names, let’s face it) didn’t seem bothered by the trial court’s getting the definition “wrong.” He wrote, “A sandwich does not have to have two slices of bread; it can have more than two (a club sandwich) and it can have just one (an open-faced sandwich).
“… [Moreover,] a hamburger is regarded as a sandwich, [as is] a hot dog – and some people regard tacos and burritos as sandwiches, and a quesadilla is even more sandwich-like. … A dictionary-centered textualism is hopeless.”
All right, then.
Another side to the legal "debate" see
https://www.legalwritingpro.com/articles/reading-law-reading-think-posner-v-scalia/ .
--------------------
Other relevant questions:
1. If you buy two open-faced roast beef, um, breadbeefgravys, have you bought a sandwich?
2. What is Chicken? (
https://casetext.com/case/frigaliment-importing-co-v-bns-intl-sales#p117)
3. Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable? (
https://casetext.com/case/nix-v-hedden#p306)
4. What is insect repellent? (
https://casetext.com/case/avon-products-inc-v-sc-johnson-son-inc#p770)
5. Is an airplane a motor vehicle? (
https://casetext.com/case/mcboyle-v-united-states#p27)
6. What is bingo? (
https://casetext.com/case/us-v-103-electronic-gambling-devices#p1093)
---------------------------