Man requests sword fight with ex-wife and lawyer to settle legal dispute

[Coventina]

A Kansas man has asked an Iowa judge to let him engage in a sword fight with his ex-wife and her attorney in a trial by combat that will settle their ongoing legal dispute.

David Ostrom, 40, of Paola, Kansas, said in a 3 January court filing that his former wife, Bridgette Ostrom, 38, of Harlan, Iowa, and her attorney, Matthew Hudson, had “destroyed (him) legally”.

The judge had the power to let the parties “resolve our disputes on the field of battle, legally,” David Ostrom said, adding in his filing that trial by combat “has never been explicitly banned or restricted as a right in these United States”.

He also asked the judge for 12 weeks’ time so he could secure Japanese samurai swords.

The Ostroms have been embroiled in disputes over custody and visitation issues and property tax payments.

His motion filed in Shelby county district court stemmed from his frustrations with his ex-wife’s attorney, Ostrom told The Des Moines Register.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jan/14/man-requests-sword-fight-ex-wife-lawyer-settle-legal-dispute

[dalton99a]

1. To rend their souls from their corporal bodies.

A Kansas man has asked an Iowa court to grant his motion for trial by combat so he can meet his ex-wife and her attorney "on the field of battle where (he) will rend their souls from their corporal bodies."

David Ostrom, 40, of Paola, Kansas, claims in court documents that his ex-wife, Bridgette Ostrom, 38, of Harlan, has "destroyed (him) legally."

He asked the Iowa District Court in Shelby County to give him 12 weeks "lead time" in order to source or forge katana and wakizashi swords, as first reported by the Carroll Times Herald.

"To this day, trial by combat has never been explicitly banned or restricted as a right in these United States," Ostrom argues in court records, adding that it was used "as recently as 1818 in British Court."

When reached by phone Monday, Ostrom told the Des Moines Register that he got the idea after learning about a 2016 case in which New York Supreme Court Justice Philip Minardo acknowledged that duels had not been abolished.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2020/01/13/iowa-courts-david-ostrom-requests-trial-combat-swords-settle-dispute/4456079002/

[Karadeniz]

2. Pretty safe to say this guy's an avid Trumper To heck with legalities, let's fight!

[Midnight Writer]

3. "Madam, were you my wife I would surely skewer you with my rapier"

"Sir, were you my husband, I would surely let you."