Go ask Sweet Caroline. She'll tell you that Yaz had more class than Jeter will ever have. 

Your Student Loans Could Have Been Paid Off In A New York Minute!

On July 13, 2011 I wrote about a young man from New York, a New York Yankee fan who after catching Jeter’s 3,000 hit homerun ball gave it back to Jeter. Since then I’ve thought more about this situation. Apparently Lopez was not married it was girlfriend who bought the tickets. But let’s assume for the sake of argument that the fan catching the ball was married and didn’t ask his wife for consent before going all lovey-dovey with the Yankees. Could the male fan without his wife’s consent, gift valuable property without the other spouse’s consent? I don’t believe he could and if it were a married fan Mr. Jeter would not, in my opinion, own the ball. I don’t practice law in New York, not even licensed to practice in New York so I offer no sound legal advice about New York law. But after 30 years of practicing I know the general principles of marital property law that apply and I’m doubtful a married fan could do what Christian Lopez seems to have done. Here is how to think about the underlying principles. 

A married partner has to agree to the gift of this valuable piece of marital property before the one spouse has the right to just give it away. I assume for the sake of this discussion the two do not have a prenuptial agreement.

I have to wonder why this young man didn’t take a week to think about his options; before acting impulsively to just give the ball away. Many people seem to be in agreement with what he did and I wonder if sexist prejudices prohibit many fans from seeing the interest of the girlfriend who no one seems to have asked what she thinks about giving away their ticket to paradise. Or at least I could find no interviews of her. I wonder what she thinks as she thinks about an expensive wedding, children, his $100,000+ in student loans, a down payment on a house and college tuition for their children. Often times it’s difficult for people to appreciate legal reasoning because of prejudice, but if I use an analogy it may help.

Let’s say that the girlfriend wanted to attend a bachelorette party in Las Vegas. Her husband wanting to give her a birthday gift purchase the plane ticket and also a ticket to the Bellagio to see a popular act and after entering she’s seated next to George Clooney, an actor she adores. Not only is she seated next to Mr. Clooney, but she finds out that she is the 1 millionth visitor to the Bellagio and is the winner of a $300,000 jackpot. George Clooney is equally excited and he too gets caught up in the moment with her. She hugs Mr. Clooney who plants a big kiss on her lips, and this overtakes her emotions. She’s so enamored with the events and all her friends screaming that she hands Mr. Clooney her $300,000 winning ticket. Clooney doesn’t need the money, after all he’s a multimillionaire, but he takes the ticket and says he’s going to buy her tickets to all his upcoming shows – and by the way, here is my favorite sports jacket and please let me sign your program.

Now the boyfriend finds out and he’s not so smitten with Mr. Clooney, he would be if this were Beyonce, the Dreamgirl, but Clooney isn’t so he, thinking about his wife’s $100,000 student loans, calls her and says, “What’s up with giving away my ticket to paradise?”. You see the boyfriend never gave permission to gift their lucky payday away to Georgie Boy; and he’s not happy.

Now do you see why the little-Mrs2B needs to be consulted? This is so bad I can’t even believe it. Why Jeter doesn’t give the ball back is beyond my comprehension. Jeter could easily pay off Mr. Lopez’ student loans and pay for the couple’s wedding. So why doesn’t he?  I have no clue, but ask simply, what would Yaz have done? 

It's sure good to be a Red Sox fan.

I see Yankee fans have set up a Facebook page to raise the $300,000 to give to Mr. Lopez, I’m sure the IRS will love that “gift”. Why don’t Yankee fans give him $50 each? That way they will have that much less to spend at the ballpark and the Yankees will have that much less to pay Jeter next year. Go figure….  

http://www.yaz8.com/