This week’s question comes from Cara:

“This question was inspired by a line in your Santa Clause analysis…can you sue yourself? Is it legally possible? And if so, why might someone do it?”

Great question, Cara. This is one of those technicality-type questions. The short answer is yes. It’s kind of like that Spiderman meme:

It is legally possible to sue yourself because of the concept of “capacity.” There are two kinds of capacity in the legal world – one deals with the mental state required to sign a contract or make decisions. We’re not talking about that one today. The capacity we are concerned with is “a specified role or position” that a person holds. 

You can think of capacity as different hats. Each hat is a different role. If you have more than one hat, you can put on one hat, sue yourself, then put on the other hat to be sued. Let’s look at an example.

In 2016, a woman named Barbara Bagley sued herself in a personal injury lawsuit. She was driving a car with her husband as a passenger, and they crashed. Sadly, Barbara’s husband died from his injuries in the accident. Barbara then decided to seek financial compensation for the loss of her husband by suing the driver involved – herself.

Barbara brought the lawsuit in her capacity as a spouse who lost her husband. Wearing her grieving widow hat, Barbara sought compensation for all the love, affection, and wages she lost when he died. Wearing her driver hat, Barbara was sued for negligently causing the accident. This seems like a stupid idea until you realize who defends negligent drivers and pays any legal judgments against them: car insurance companies.

So Barbara the grieving spouse was suing “herself” as the negligent driver, though really that second “Barbara” was covered by the insurance company and its $$ DEEP POCKETS $$.

And you know what? It worked! The court ruled in favor of Barbara the grieving spouse based on the language used in Utah’s Wrongful Death and Survival Action Statutes. Despite the insurance company arguing that it was an absurd result, the Utah Supreme Court allowed the grieving widow to collect from herself as the negligent driver (and, therefore, the insurance company) based on the plain language of the statute. Words matter!

So while you cannot sue yourself in your own capacity – and why would you? You’d have to pay yourself back! –  you can sue yourself if you do so in a different “capacity,” especially if it is supported by a statute. At least you can in Utah because Utah is a wild and hedonistic paradise with no rules!*

* Please note, I have never been to Utah.

I hope that answers your question, Cara! Thanks for sending.

Got a question? Submit it here. They can be legal what-if questions like the one above, or questions about the legality of actions in TV shows or movies you’ve seen. I never ever want to answer your personal legal questions, so don’t send those. Love you, but I don’t do that.

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This piece first appeared in Sunday Morning Hot Tea. Subscribe so you don’t miss another piece.