For those watching oral arguments before the state Supreme Court in Pittsburgh last week, it was probably hard to imagine a meaningful connection between LeBron James’ Twitter activity and the century-old “rescue doctrine” on the justice’s docket.

Such became clear though, as plaintiffs attorney James J. Stuczynski sought to apply the “context of the modern world” to a doctrine that was, as he said, “as storied as the [Supreme Court] itself” despite its seldom use.