This Crap Sickens Me, More Idiots Awarded Millions In Damages

[bigbootch]

To play devil's advocate:

Let's be more precise about exactly what sickens you. My guess is (and please correct me if I am wrong) that you feel these idiots were doing something stupid, injured themselves as a result, and therefore do not deserve to get any money from the companies. (Your comparison to deliberately inserting a knife into your rectum makes me believe this is what sickens you.)

The companies are getting fined not because these idiots should or should not have been doing what they were doing, they are getting fined because what THEY (the companies) were doing was wrong. And by wrong, I don't mean morally wrong, I mean legally wrong and subject to fines. Specifically, they put up a lethal electric fence without any signs indicating them to be such.

Comparing this to a more extreme example may illustrate my point: if I set up a fence around my house, clearly put up multiple large signs indicating PRIVATE PROPERTY DO NOT CROSS, install a high-tech-camera-and-machine-gun security system that automatically shoots any person or object that crosses the fence, and NOT PUT UP SIGNS indicating that you will be shot at if you cross this fence, I am going to go to jail. (In this example I would go to jail even if I put up those signs, but as I said this is an extreme example so bear with me.) You cannot say "Well you are an idiot for trespassing on private property, you should have known better, it's your fault." Just b/c it's private property doesn't mean I can just kill people who trespass.

Going back to the orig case, this was a 12.5k volt electric fence that burned SEVENTY FIVE PERCENT of his body even with a friend trying to help him. Had he been alone, and had he been like 11 years old, he almost certainly would have died. You cannot just kill people who trespass, and especially so without very very clear signs warning of this danger.

[jackblack73]

[ QUOTE ]
To play devil's advocate:

Let's be more precise about exactly what sickens you. My guess is (and please correct me if I am wrong) that you feel these idiots were doing something stupid, injured themselves as a result, and therefore do not deserve to get any money from the companies. (Your comparison to deliberately inserting a knife into your rectum makes me believe this is what sickens you.)

The companies are getting fined not because these idiots should or should not have been doing what they were doing, they are getting fined because what THEY (the companies) were doing was wrong. And by wrong, I don't mean morally wrong, I mean legally wrong and subject to fines. Specifically, they put up a lethal electric fence without any signs indicating them to be such.

Comparing this to a more extreme example may illustrate my point: if I set up a fence around my house, clearly put up multiple large signs indicating PRIVATE PROPERTY DO NOT CROSS, install a high-tech-camera-and-machine-gun security system that automatically shoots any person or object that crosses the fence, and NOT PUT UP SIGNS indicating that you will be shot at if you cross this fence, I am going to go to jail. (In this example I would go to jail even if I put up those signs, but as I said this is an extreme example so bear with me.) You cannot say "Well you are an idiot for trespassing on private property, you should have known better, it's your fault." Just b/c it's private property doesn't mean I can just kill people who trespass.

Going back to the orig case, this was a 12.5k volt electric fence that burned SEVENTY FIVE PERCENT of his body even with a friend trying to help him. Had he been alone, and had he been like 11 years old, he almost certainly would have died. You cannot just kill people who trespass, and especially so without very very clear signs warning of this danger.

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It wasn't an electric fence.

[-beavs-]

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http://www.snopes.com/legal/lawsuits.asp

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i stand corrected.

[DonkeyKongSr]

Hey, I just got this email, you think it's true...


This is what's wrong with the world:

1. January 2000: Kathleen Robertson of Melbourne, Australia was awarded 780,000 in whatever they use as money in Australia by a jury of her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running away from a dingo inside a furniture store. The owners of the store were understandably surprised at the verdict, considering the misbehaving dingo was eating Ms. Robertson's son.

2. June 1998: A 19 year old Carl Truman of Sydney won 74,000 Australia Bucks and medical expenses when his neighbor ran his hand over with a kangaroo. Mr. Truman apparently didn't notice someone was riding the kangaroo whose joey he was trying to steal.

3. October 1998: A Terrence Dickson of Canberra was exiting a house he finished robbing by way of the garage. He was not able to get the garage door to go up, because automatic door openers don't exist yet in Australia. He couldn't re-enter the house because the door connecting the house and garage locked when he pulled it shut. The family was on vacation, so Mr. Dickson found himself locked in the garage for eight days. He subsisted on a case of Fosters he found, and a large bag of dry dingo food. This upset Mr. Dickson, so he sued the homeowner's insurance claiming the situation caused him undue mental anguish. The jury agreed to the tune of half a million Australia Bucks and change.

4. October 1999: Jerry Williams of Some Other Australian city was awarded 14,500 cans of Fosters and medical expenses after being bitten on the arse by his next door neighbor's crocodile. The crocodile was on a chain in its owner's fenced-in yard, as was Mr. Williams. The award was less than sought after because the jury felt the crocodile may have been provoked by Mr. Williams who, at the time, was hitting it repeatedly with a boomerang.

5. May 2000: A aborigine restaurant was ordered to pay Amber Carson of Somewhere Australian 113,500 Tazmanian Devil Dollars after she slipped on a spilled Fosters and broke her coccyx. The Fosters was on the floor because Ms. Carson threw it to her baby 30 seconds earlier during breakfast.

6. December 1997: Kara Walton of Yet Another Australian City successfully sued the owner of a night club in a neighboring city when she fell from the bathroom window to the floor and knocked out her two front teeth. This occurred while Ms. Walton was trying to sneak through the window in the ladies room to avoid a dingo that was chasing her. She was awarded 12,000 Shrimps from the Barbie and dental expenses.

[roy_miami]

I remember that e-mail from a few years ago. i thought they were real and have been telling the stories for the past few years. This was my favorite:

[ QUOTE ]
The "winner" every year: In November, Mr. Grazinski purchased a brand new 32 foot Winnebago motor home. On his first trip home, having joined the freeway, he set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the drivers seat to go into the back and make himself a cup of coffee. Not surprisingly, the Winnie left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Mr. Grazinski sued Winnebago for not advising him in the handbook that he could not actually do this. He was awarded $1,750,000 plus a new Winnebago

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[rjoefish]

I don't get why all of you guys are making such a big deal about 'trespassing' on railways. I lived in a smaller town when I was younger that had a rail line going right through the middle of it, you think we walked to the street crossings every time we wanted to cross the rail that was 10 feet behind my backyard fence?

[Nadstar]

You all realize that you're taking snippets and summaries of complex cases. Also, do you geniuses think you're the only people in the world who would be hesitant to give money to people who were trespassing and wound up injured? I can guarantee you that the jury members had similar biases going in, and were sufficiently convinced to grant a large verdict. I really wish that people weren't responsible for keeping their property reasonably safe so that we could walk unobstructed and get electrocuted whenever. Also, in most states liability can be assigned as a percentage, so that if a person's injuries were worth $100,000 but he was 40% at fault, he is only awarded 60%.

[Stat Boy]

One huge thing here, from what I have read these guys didn't just happen to randomly find a train and hop on top, they were riding the train and snuck their way up top. Also, they never actually touched the wires, the wires were live enough that the dude just being near them torched him. Granted I think they should get dick out of this, (enough dick to repair their damaged skin) but people should at least discuss the facts.

[TIEdup14]

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i also heard of another gem from your awesome legal system.

a woman is in a supermarket doing shopping(as you do), when she's looking at something on a shelf and trips over a small child crawling along the floor. she breaks her ankle(or something like that) and sues the supermarket. she is awarded something like $500 000 in damages.

it was her child.

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I am so calling BS on this. Show me the article. There is no way someone trips on their own baby, breaks their ankle, and sues the location they tripped over their baby in unless there's something else going on.

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you could be right. i don't have the article and have no way of getting it/proving it. i read it in an email of funny/retarded/sad litigious stories a few years ago and recounted it as best i could. i think i got the essence of the story correct though.

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this is a microcosm of everything that's wrong with your country. i feel sorry for you.

[-beavs-]

[ QUOTE ]
Hey, I just got this email, you think it's true...


This is what's wrong with the world:

1. January 2000: Kathleen Robertson of Melbourne, Australia was awarded 780,000 in whatever they use as money in Australia by a jury of her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was running away from a dingo inside a furniture store. The owners of the store were understandably surprised at the verdict, considering the misbehaving dingo was eating Ms. Robertson's son.

2. June 1998: A 19 year old Carl Truman of Sydney won 74,000 Australia Bucks and medical expenses when his neighbor ran his hand over with a kangaroo. Mr. Truman apparently didn't notice someone was riding the kangaroo whose joey he was trying to steal.

3. October 1998: A Terrence Dickson of Canberra was exiting a house he finished robbing by way of the garage. He was not able to get the garage door to go up, because automatic door openers don't exist yet in Australia. He couldn't re-enter the house because the door connecting the house and garage locked when he pulled it shut. The family was on vacation, so Mr. Dickson found himself locked in the garage for eight days. He subsisted on a case of Fosters he found, and a large bag of dry dingo food. This upset Mr. Dickson, so he sued the homeowner's insurance claiming the situation caused him undue mental anguish. The jury agreed to the tune of half a million Australia Bucks and change.

4. October 1999: Jerry Williams of Some Other Australian city was awarded 14,500 cans of Fosters and medical expenses after being bitten on the arse by his next door neighbor's crocodile. The crocodile was on a chain in its owner's fenced-in yard, as was Mr. Williams. The award was less than sought after because the jury felt the crocodile may have been provoked by Mr. Williams who, at the time, was hitting it repeatedly with a boomerang.

5. May 2000: A aborigine restaurant was ordered to pay Amber Carson of Somewhere Australian 113,500 Tazmanian Devil Dollars after she slipped on a spilled Fosters and broke her coccyx. The Fosters was on the floor because Ms. Carson threw it to her baby 30 seconds earlier during breakfast.

6. December 1997: Kara Walton of Yet Another Australian City successfully sued the owner of a night club in a neighboring city when she fell from the bathroom window to the floor and knocked out her two front teeth. This occurred while Ms. Walton was trying to sneak through the window in the ladies room to avoid a dingo that was chasing her. She was awarded 12,000 Shrimps from the Barbie and dental expenses.

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haha, not bad. though you can understand me believing that email, given OPs story.