ON Christmas Eve, Santa and his reindeer were making their annual delivery rounds and as they were soaring across Whoville they stopped in at the Grinch’s home, eager to deliver a sprinkle of Christmas cheer.

When landing on the Grinch’s roof, Rudolph slipped and damaged several roof tiles. Unbeknownst to Santa, the Grinch had recently taken out an extravagant “Anti-Christmas Roof Protection Policy” with Whoville Insurance that included a special condition that explicitly excluded damage caused by “holiday-related creatures”.

The Grinch, furious, wrote to Santa stating “HO, HO, NO!

You have 24 hours to fix my roof, or I will see you in Court”. Santa, in his holiday spirit, offered to repair the roof immediately with the help of his elves, using magical hammers and enchanted nails.

However, the Grinch suddenly changed his mind, demanding an immediate settlement in the sum of $1 million claiming “irreparable emotional distress”.

Suspicious of the Grinch’s sudden change of tune, Santa and his reindeer conducted a close inspection of the roof, discovering that the Grinch had sabotaged the roof by applying a slippery peppermint oil likely to prevent “holiday intruders”.

When the case was heard in the Whoville Supreme Court, the Grinch argued that a reindeer landing on peppermint oil should know better and that Santa and his reindeer did not have the right to land on his roof.

However, Santa argued that he had an implied rooftop easement due to his longstanding tradition of delivering joy to children across the world.

After careful deliberation, the Court ruled that Santa does indeed hold an implied rooftop easement for Christmas deliveries on the night of 24 December and awarded Santa and his reindeer the right to continue using rooftops globally provided they continue to act in good faith and spread holiday cheer.

As for the Grinch, his claim was dismissed and the Court ordered him to clean his roof and issue a formal apology to Rudolph.

Thank you to Rhiannon Beck for her assistance with this column.

Email Manny Wood, principal solicitor at TB Law at manny@tblaw.net.au or call him on (02) 66 487 487.

This fictional column cannot be relied upon as legal advice.

By Manny WOOD, Solicitor