THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!!
It has been brought to my attention that there are people out there who may not know this, and this is very important: Judges are only, and I do mean ONLY, allowed to consider what is presented before them in court, either in the pleadings or during hearings. That is ALL they may consider. If there is a different law out there that would apply, or other facts of which the judge is aware but neither party brought them up, the judge CANNOT consider them even though they may want to very much. The judge HAS  to stick strictly to what’s in front of them in rendering their decision.  This is why you see outcomes that seem to make no sense given the facts on the ground that we all know, it means that one or the other party did not bring up those facts, or did not cite a particular law relevant to those facts.  Usually that party is the plaintiff, because the defendant is certainly not going bring up something that the plaintiff failed to bring up if it would be good for the plaintiff.
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