GSS, my advice to you is "watch the donut, not the hole". The future influence is related to case law, of coursenot about the folks in the case, nor cake. Consider this:

"" Case law is often referred to as common law in many regions of the world and is also known as judge-made law. This latter term derives from the fact that, while legislation is technically passed in most countries by a separate legislative branch, courts are often able to exercise a moderate amount of quasi-legislative power through the use of precedent. Case law is viewed by most people as a crucial part of a functioning judiciary, as it allows for courts to transform decisions that may have taken a great deal of time and energy to arrive at into a sort of de facto law, making future cases much easier to decide.""

Silence you Joe O, I am surprised you would accuse another here of that type of thing on such spongy grounds? You have a different opinion, why would you wrongly accuse another Mudcatter of such limiting your ability to make your case?