A Dutch woman has lost her compensation claim for mental distress she suffered from missing out when her neighbors won a lottery windfall.
Prize winners are chosen by postal code and Helene de Gier would have shared in the 14 million euros ($19 million) if she had bought an 8.50 euro ticket — as her seven neighbors in the town of Heusden did.
The judgment said lottery organizers cannot be held responsible for those who fail to take part and later regret it.
Phew! Good thing she didn’t live in a small town in California.
Sounds like something that would only happen in America. Difference is, she would have won here.
You know #1, I think you are half joking, but you do not know how right you are. I knew a woman who got five years disability for depression and anxiety because her boss yelled at her.
According to VAWA, the violence against women act, a woman can accuse a man of domestic violence and get a restraining order if she just feels threatened. Before VAWA, a threat or action was required.
I have no doubt this woman has suffered emotional distress. I saw a news report of a town in Texas where a bunch of people in the city won the lottery. One man who did not participate in the lottery that one time cried his eyes out on national TV.
This is really part of a disturbing trend: looking to government for compensation and/or relief from hurt feelings. Because feelings are often so irrational (that is why they are feelings versus thoughts), any attempt to legislate with regards to emotions is doomed to bring chaos.
Worthy of a Stella Award…
#3
And this brings us to the next observation: A man who yells at a woman is an atrocious beast whereas a woman who yells at a man is charging $50 an hour.
#1, #3, & #4.
Bullshit. There is no court I am aware of in America, Canada, Europe, Australia, NZ, or anywhere else for that matter that would have entertained this lawsuit. The suggestion that “Sounds like something that would only happen in America. Difference is, she would have won here.” is so completely asinine. Maybe you
imbecilesmorani could cite an actual lawsuit where something similar happened.It is your bogus lawsuits and erroneous reporting that have allowed Congress to pass a law restricting medical malpractice. There was nothing done to prevent the malpractice, only a bunch of horror stories of how malpractice insurance was going up and the doctors couldn’t afford to kill or maim with impunity anymore.
Ah yes, the Stella Awards. Yup, bogus too. As in made up. Invented. Didn’t happen. More propaganda from the manufacturers to have lawsuits restricted so they don’t need to pay out for their effen screw-ups.
#3, This is really part of a disturbing trend: looking to government for compensation and/or relief from hurt feelings.
Where did she look to government to sooth her hurt feelings? She sued the effen Lottery people, not the government. Now where is this greater trend? If the government, or anyone, injures me then do I not have the right to be compensated for my loss?
Mr(s.) Fusion, the lottery is run by the government and last I checked a court room was a government building and a judge is paid by the government as well.
Here are the stella awards for 2005:
http://www.stellaawards.com/2005.html
This is #2 for that year. Wanita “Renea” Young of Durango, Colo. Two neighborhood teens baked cookies for their neighbors as an anonymous gesture of good will, but Young got scared when she heard them on her front porch. They apologized, in writing, but Young sued them anyway for causing her distress, demanding $3,000. When she won(!!) $900, she crowed about it in the newspaper and on national TV. Now, she’s shocked (shocked!) that everyone in town hates her for her spite, and is afraid she may have to move. But hey: she won.
And a link to the story: http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/nationworld/articles/1229527.html
So just about everything in your post was wrong which is what we have all come to expect from you.
Seriously, Mr(s). Fusion, what color is the sky in your world? And what drug do I have to smoke to get there?
8 – Interesting – it’s so easy to sneer away lawsuits when you don’t know the specifics, huh? Reminds me of the infamous hot-coffee suit, used to justify limits to corporate liability, in which McDonald’s as corporate policy served superheated coffee that was known to be likely to foam over the cup suddenly and uncontrollably. In this case it foams out of the cup and badly burned a woman’s labia so she sued. Haw haw!
Considering such injuries to its customers as “acceptable risk” purely pissed off the jury. And don’t the conservatives still have fun with that one! Haw haw.
Hell, Mr. Fusion’s right. Most of this mocking of lawsuits reflects an orchestrated campaign to let corporations evade responsibility for their own actions. There are some truly silly lawsuits, but they tend to be dismissed on first hearing. Tort “reform” is just another screw-the-public Rethuglican corporate rip-off. Welcome to America.
Same old song and dance. Bring up a stupid lawsuit and these lawyer types say they are the protectors of the little guy from big, bad corporate America and evil doctors. Of course, this story has nothing aobut corporations or doctors, but you cannot win that argument so you have to change it. I remember a previous post when someone wrote that crime would be through the roof if not for lawyers. Never heard back from the guy when I wrote that much of the rest of the world has fewer lawyers and less crime, but with lawyer types, image not facts are what matter most.
The suits these lawyer types never mention are lawyers suing kids for illegaly downloading music or suing corporate America for billions in damages from breast implants that were never proven true. Hell, we have John Edwards, a prez. candidate, who made most of his money on a cerebral palsy case that was later learned to be bogus.
“Most of this mocking of lawsuits reflects an orchestrated campaign to let corporations evade responsibility for their own actions.” Right, The Danish government, the girls who baked cookies, John C. Dvorak et. al and I are all part of an orchestrated corporate campaign. Can I have some of what you are smoking?
#7, jz,
It is obvious you don’t read your own effen crap you link. The families had already offered to pay her medical bill and that is exactly what the Judge gave her. Nothing for pain, suffering, or duress.
Their offering could very well be taken as a serious threat considering the time of night, and the cryptic message attached. In other words they caused her injury and the court said they had to pay. A public act of kindness has a much different appearance when done late at night at an isolated house.