“The legal basis for this lawsuit is perfectly cromulent, your honor!”
Vega, 24, competed in September 2005 to win a Nissan pickup, the prize going to the contestant who endured standing beside the truck with a hand on it longer than any other. After standing for 48 hours, he walked away, broke into a Kmart across the street and, with a shotgun taken from the store, shot himself in the head.
In their petition, his family alleged that the stress of the contest caused Vega “to become “temporarily insane and to take his own life” and Patterson was negligent in not providing psychiatric or medical monitoring to contestants
Man you guys need a a little more compassion in your lives.
Seriously, go rent “Hands on a Hard Body.” The IMDB tag line for the movie is “When you lose your mind, you lose the contest.”
These contests attract desperate people and pushes them to the brink of a mental breakdown — all in the name of promotion.
It was only a matter of time before something like this would happen.
Yes the guy was surely troubled before the event, but the dealership has a responsibility to make sure their contests are safe. This stunt is clearly not.
31. Greg- when I was in boot camp, our drill instructor had us running punishment miles with a 16ib. rifle over our head, or bury a duck on the beach 6ft deep and dig it up and bury it again because it faced the wrong direction, or make you do pushups while they slap you across the face as hard as they could for hours. And much more than that. I didnt see any one break, although I know it happens. Yeah, I volunteered, but I couldnt walk away any time I wanted to. He could. Cripes.
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30, mark It must be the motor and Go To computer. I dont see how you can live without that.
Yes, GoTo capability adds between $550 to $1000 to commercial scope prices. I don’t need it, I know the sky quite well. Even GoTo scopes can’t find a comet without coords. Sometimes (I hate to admit it) I’ll resort to using setting circles, but not often. Hope you enjoyed the links. [The 16″ is a total robot, point on the PC screen with ‘The Sky’ and slew at 20 degrees per second. Like shooting fish in a barrel.]
Yeah I use The Sky, nice. I admit I do miss the view from the Southern Hemisphere, named my house Southern Cross for obvious reasons.
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34, mark, now envious you’ve been able to see some southern skies. How about the clouds of Magellan? Lordy, I’d like to see those in an eyepiece. And about 200 other objects as well.
Hey you should go down there. We had plenty of Texicans in the VI, so many that my favorite on island Irish Pub, “The Quiet Mon” had a sign over the bar, a picture of George Bush Sr. with the caption “Read My Lips, No New Texans”.
Anyway, I thought it was funny.
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36, mark, with a sign like that, I wouldn’t last 10 minutes. A guy named Bubba from TX? Hahaha. Seriously, if you need any tips or help on how to get the most out of your scope, 45 yrs. of experience could help. Dang, I’d like to see those southern skies.
37. Definitely would help.
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38, mark, sorry, I meant you could ask me for any tips etc, anytime.
Mark,
I know someone who had a mental break down in the army (and can’t swear it was in boot camp but I think so) and they quickly pulled her out and hospitalized her. Furthermore, she got some long term counseling even after she was discharged. IMHO, this is was a responsible and decent way to deal with it.
But these “hands on a hard body” stunts? They are messing with people’s mental health just as a publicity stunt with no apparent consideration for the damage it might do to some people.
I honestly believe the organizers of these stunts have legal liability. I know I’m a minority opinion on this — I was the odd person out on that debate about the poor woman who died on some radio stunt to win a Wii.
But, I never side with businesses when they mess with people’s lives for profit.