Decisions

> In New York City a Family Court ruled that the immunity that protects foreign diplomats in the U.S. from criminal prosecution also shields them from paternity suits. The decision was handed down in a case discreetly titled Anonymous v. Anonymous, but one-time Concert Singer Sarah Lake, 28, dispensed with diplomacy and named as the father of her soon-to-be-born child Omar Abdel Hamid Adeel, Sudanese Ambassador to the U.N. In denying Sarah Lake's plea, Judge Louis A. Pagnucco noted dryly that immunity from local jurisdiction is necessary "to avoid impediments to effective diplomatic intercourse."

> In Washington the U.S. Tax Court made it plain that if a retired businessman wants to turn his longtime hobby into work and use it as a tax deduction, he had better make sure it is a genuine income-producing endeavor. Retired General Motors Executive Martin C. McGowan owes $19,864 in taxes for 1957-59, said the court, because in those years he deducted more than $40,000 for cameras, film and travel costs on two African safaris and trips to India, the Far East and Alaska. McGowan, who earned $53,819 in his last full year (1956) with G.M., had shown movies of the trips to various paying groups and had made one television show, but, said the court, he had "never employed a booking agent," done much advertising or seemed concerned about profits. He had been motivated to enter show business "by an abiding self-interest in hunting wild game and in photography" and not by the desire to earn a living.

>In Raleigh the North Carolina Supreme Court declared that for once a baseball umpire was wrong, and Umpire John Toone lost an $11,500 damage suit against Kenneth Deal, manager of the Carolina League Raleigh Caps. Toone had been belted by a Caps fan after a game in which Manager Deal had repeatedly stormed onto the field to protest Toone's decisions. Even though his assailant was caught, Toone felt that Deal, who riled up the crowd, was the man directly responsible for the assault. The court disagreed, held that "it would be an intolerable burden upon managers of baseball teams to saddle them with the responsibility for the actions of every emotionally unstable person who might become enraged over a call by an umpire."

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