Don't get scalped on the way to your car.

No, really. Oral arguments were heard by the Supreme Court of New Mexico regarding questions of jurisdiction over personal injury claims arising at tribally owned casinos. During arguments Merit Bennett, an attorney for one of the non-Indian plaintiffs, presented a hypothetical situation where a non-Indian ventures onto tribal land and "an Indian scalps them." I am not making this up. Full story here.

After the hearing, the upstanding Mr. Bennett claimed it was a slip of the tongue and that he really meant to say "assault." Yeah, because "assault" and "scalp" are so phonetically similar, it's a common mistake. Hopefully at the minimum he'll be censured by the State Bar, but I'm not holding my breath. If you'd like to write a warm, fuzzy email please send it to consult@merritbennett.com.