Rather than banning the rides, how about forcing walkers to wear fat suits so they bounce off everything? Oh, you say that’s next, eh?
Beware of the.. er, Postman Pat
A KIDDIES’ Postman Pat musical ride has been outlawed after six years outside a store — in case shoppers walk into it.
Precinct chiefs ordered the 30p ride’s removal in a health and safety crackdown.
But shoe shop boss Sherryl Granger last night vowed to keep Pat’s van outside her store. And she was backed by angry mums whose kids use the ride.
Sherryl, 44, from Market Harborough, Leics, stormed: “You would have to be blind to walk into it — it poses no more danger than a bollard. Thousands of children have ridden it and even more people have walked by it without a single complaint or injury.”
She added: “Hundreds of people have signed a petition to keep Pat where he is. The kids love him.” Mum-of-two Sarah Sidwell, 23, said: “It would be really missed.”
A spokeswoman for St Mary’s Place said it was targeting “material outside shop boundaries with health and safety implications”.
Wow, the US actually is less litigious than the UK?! In the US we have the so called Open and Obvious doctrine. That means that if a person could have seen the danger no one can be liable for it. This is an objective standard, so it does not matter if the particular person actually saw it, only if a hypothetical ordinary person could have seen it.
I can’t for life of me figure out how someone could not see that ride.
SN, where do you think the US inhereted its litigating culture from? 😉
he he he
There was a lawsuit in my hometown, in NY, against a school for the injuries of kids who fell through a roof window after hours.
why on the roof, and why on property after hours were appearently not questions asked in the case.
I’m not sure which is worse, that or pat
Um, whats a bollard?
#4
British term. one of a series of short posts for excluding or diverting motor vehicles from a road, lawn, or the like.
5. Thanks, damn British should learn a little English.
Joke.
Thanks for the info, Pete, I was thinking “bollocks” or something I heard once…
You could say bollocks on this whole argument.
Damn lawters again
It’s so bad here that all our city playgrounds are empty. First they removed merry-go-rounds, then the swings except the harnessed baby swings, then everything else that could move. Then all the climbers were replaced with miniature very uninspiring versions. I guess nobody will get hurt now because the park is empty.
A man entered a home of a person that was on vacation to ROB it.
As he was wondering around, and almost finished, he decided to check the inside garage door, and entered to see what could be had.
The door closed and Locked him inside the garage.
He soon discovered he could NOT leave, or escape.
1 week later, the owners found him inside the garage, esting Dog food, and Soda pop.
Arrested, he sued, for Detainment.
Won, $14,000.
#9 – That’s second time I’ve your oversimplified canard about those damn lawyers… Do you know anything about law? Do you know any lawyers? Have you ever been involved in a lawsuit? Do you think all lawyers are part of some monolithic group?
I contend that you have nothing to say and I’m calling you on it… Prove that “the lawyers” are at fault. Or stop posting that stupid comment…
12. see number 11.
#13, It seems you are as big an idiot as #9.
A Lawyer may not sue someone. He may only represent someone. In other words, a citizen must sue and a Lawyer can only represent that citizen. A local lawyer I know recently bought some bankrupt property. He had to hire another lawyer to sign the papers and file it at the Courthouse.
#11, I find that hard to believe. Could you list some particulars so I could look it up?
14. Confusion- if you dont believe there are many crooked lawyers out there, who the F**k do you think populates the Republican (and Democratic) party. Obviously, you have not had the pleasant experience of dealing with one. My you are a testy ass.
I’m posting this from my Blackberry right outside the shoe shop in question, and I don’t see anything OWWW! Dammit, who put this red truck thingy here? Has it always been here? Oww! Geez, this thing is dangerous!
14. Now go ahead with one of your long-winded rants that nobody can get through without a nap. I need the sleep anyway.
Our current overly-litigious society is not merely an offense to common sense — it costs everyone money, though most are not aware they pay to support this madness through a trickle down to consumers in the form of markedly higher prices. This trickle down accounts, for example, for $8 of an $11.50 diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus (DPT) vaccine, $191 of a $578 tonsillectomy, $170 of a $1,000 motorized wheelchair, and $3,000 of an $18,000 heart pacemaker.
Though the cases described in the e-mail are fake, real lawsuits of equal silliness can be found in abundance. An equally impressive list could easily have been compiled by anyone with access to a news database and a few moments to spare. For instance:
* In March 1995, a San Diego man unsuccessfully attempted to sue the city and Jack Murphy Stadium for $5.4 million over something than can only be described as a wee problem: Robert Glaser claimed the stadium’s unisex bathroom policy at a Billy Joel and Elton John concert caused him embarrassment and emotional distress thanks to the sight of a woman using a urinal in front of him. He subsequently tried “six or seven” other bathrooms in the stadium only to find women in all of them. He asserted he “had to hold it in for four hours” because he was too embarrassed to share the public bathrooms with women.
* A San Carlos, California, man sued the Escondido Public Library for $1.5 million. His dog, a 50-pound Labrador mix, was attacked November 2000 by the library’s 12-pound feline mascot, L.C., (also known as Library Cat). The case was heard in January 2004, with the jury finding for the defendant. In a further case which was resolved in July 2004, the plaintiff in the previous suit was ordered to pay the city $29,362.50, which amounted to 75% of its legal fees associated with that case.
* In 1994, a student at the University of Idaho unsuccessfully sued that institution over his fall from a third-floor dorm window. He’d been mooning other students when the window gave way. It was contended the University failed to provide a safe environment for students or to properly warn them of the dangers inherent to upper-story windows.
* In 1993, McDonald’s was unsuccessfully sued over a car accident in New Jersey. While driving, a man who had placed a milkshake between his legs, leaned over to reach into his bag of food and squeezed the milkshake container in the process. When the lid popped off and spilled half the drink in his lap, this driver became distracted and ran into another man’s car. That man in turn tried to sue McDonald’s for causing the accident, saying the restaurant should have cautioned the man who had hit him against eating while driving.
http://www.power-of-attorneys.com/StupidLawsuit.htm
have fun
It’s really best never to admit you’re an attorney, have one in your family, or are in a relation with one on this site. That pretty much goes for most sites.
20,
AGREED…
Its the 1% rule..
1% cause all the bad rumours, all the bad press…
I agree with Fusion and OFTLO. We have lawyers because there is a market for them. Ultimately it’s loopholes and sometimes just stupidity in our laws that screws the system. A lawyers job is to defend or prosecute based on those laws, so if you have a stupid law or a stupid loophole it’s not the lawyer’s fault.
Laws have stupid holes in them because it’s easier for the lethargic public to accuse lawyers for the mess than get off their (our) collective asses and do something about those stupid laws when they are brought to our attention by the unscrupulous. It’s a lot of work to campaign for change.
ECA, all those incidents you mention in #18 have one thing in common. The plaintiffs lost. Judges have the authority to dismiss frivolous lawsuits and they often do, usually also assigning costs to the plaintiff for the defendant’s lawyer.
But blaming the lawyers is wrong. They are just the representatives of the plaintiff. In fact, I’ll bet you most of the frivolous lawsuits dismissed are filed by the individual himself who doesn’t have a lawyer. Simply because most lawyers recognize when they have a frivolous case and will so advise their client. Lawyers can be punished by their Bar Associations for bringing frivolous suits.
#15, 14. Confusion- if you dont believe there are many crooked lawyers out there, who the F**k do you think populates the Republican (and Democratic) party. Obviously, you have not had the pleasant experience of dealing with one. My you are a testy ass.
Comment by Sundog — 11/14/2006 @ 5:27 pm
I think they are men and women that seriously believe in what they are doing. They are the ones that want a better life for all Americans, or whatever nation you happen to come from. They are the patriots that serve the country and the people.
The latest batch of corrupt politicions would be someone like “Duke” Cunningham, who wasn’t a lawyer, try teacher. Tom Delay was an insect exterminator. Bob Ney, was a Civil Servant and teacher. Jack Abramoff studied law but as far as I can tell, never took the bar exam and so never became a lawyer. If you want to look at your hero, even Bush isn’t a lawyer.
Yes there are bad lawyers out there. There are also bad teachers, physicians, auto mechanics, accountants, and any other profession you care to mention including your favorite, space cadets.