So the judge had to decide. And decide he did! Read this great bit of reasoning:
The Court is sympathetic with Defendant's argument [Judge Nowlin wrote]. Surely Defendant's corporate representative, a resident of Arkansas, would feel great humiliation by being forced to enter the home state of the University of Texas, where the legendary Texas Longhorns have wrought havoc on the Arkansas Razorbacks with an impressive 55-21 all-time series record.What was this neutral site? Well, it turns out the court did a pretty clever splitting of the baby here. The parties were ordered to take the deposition in Texarkana, a city that is actually on the Texas and Arkansas border — in fact, the state line runs down the middle of State Line Avenue. So the deposition is supposed to take place on the steps of the Texarkana Federal Building, which is located on State Line Avenue.
On the other hand, the Court is sympathetic with Plaintiff's position. Plaintiff might enter Arkansas with a bit of trepidation as many residents of Arkansas are still seeking retribution for the "Game of the [Prior] Century" in which James Street and Darrell Royal stunned the Razorbacks by winning the 1969 National Championship. Because the Court is sympathetic to both parties' positions, it has found a neutral site…
And just to finish it off, the judge went on, "IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that each party is to remain on his or her respective side of the state line."
Now, the judge perhaps showed a slight bias towards Texas here in his language, but this is literally in between the two states. And while you can't complain that this is an unfair result (it's the definition of "down the middle"), imagine being one of the parties in this case. The judge rightly embarrassed both of the sides!
