2:36am UK, Friday June 09, 2006

A US judge ordered two bickering lawyers to settle a dispute outside court - with a game of scissors, paper, stone.

David Pettinato and L Craig Lee had been arguing over where to interview a witness in a civil lawsuit in Orlando for weeks without a breakthrough.

180 scissors paper stone

US-style justice

That was until US District Judge Gregory Presnell stepped in with his "new form of alternative dispute resolution", according to the the Orlando Sentinal.

He chastised the legal eagles for failing to settle their differences.

And he then told both sides to meet at a neutral location at 4pm on June 30 to decide the matter with a round of the playground game.

Pettinato said both sides had agreed to hold the showdown in his office, the newspaper reported.

Had they not been able to agree a venue, Judge Presnell's order decreed that they would have had to meet on the courthouse steps.

Whoever wins the game will get to host the deposition in his office.

Mr Pettinato told the newspaper the judge had got his "message across".

He said: "I have never heard of it and was very surprised to see it. We are going to comply with the judge's order to try to resolve things more amicably."

Scissors, paper, stone - officially called rock, paper, scissors (RPS) - has become a serious competitive business in recent years, with an annual world championships.

Matti Leshem, co-commissioner for the USA Rock Paper Scissors League, has offered to fly to Florida and officiate the lawyers' duel.

"We will make sure that rock, paper scissors is not made a mockery of by the legal system," he said.

"When people take rock, paper, scissors into their own hands, mayhem can occur."