common sense prevails?

miec

I read this article on the Irish times website, basically a girl from Foxrock took the Old Wesley Rugby club to court for damages to her leg. She was in the toilet with her friend (why on earth anyone wants to share a cubicle with another person is beyond me but I have noticed some women have a fetish for this, it freaks me out) and according to her testimony, when she used the toilet, the cistern fell on her leg and cut it. She needed six stiches. Her mother initiated court proceedings, knowing that her 15 year old daughter (at the time, she is now 19) had had two alchohlic drinks and the attendant found two empty spirit bottles in the toilet after the girls rushed out. Thankfully the judge dismissed her claim for €38,000 and I am delighted but I am shocked at the utter irresponsibility of the mother in allowing her daughter to do this, or possibly encouraging her daughter to make a fraudalent claim and continuing the cycle of fraudalent claims. It does not cost €38,000 to give a person six stitches so where they got that figure from beats me. I am interested in hearing other people's viewpoints on this and the abuse of litigation in this country. I am hoping that judges will be like this one and use their common sense and these type of scams stop.

Eliot Rosewater

The problem is that what is "common sense" is debatable, and different people may have different opinions on it.

Another example of this, but where it went the other way, occurred in my town when I was younger. Two youths broke into a building site. One of them hijacked a forklift and started messing around with it. He accidentally lowered the forks on his friends foot and crushed a few of his toes. The latter had to have 3 toes amputated.

Heres the way that I see it: the two youths invaded private property, messed around, and got hurt out of their own negligence. I would blame the event on a lack of responsibility by the youths.

The judge did not think so. He awarded damages to the youths on the basis that the site wasn't guarded enough.

silverharp

and I'm sure you could come up with a list of drunks that have fallen asleep on railway lines that end up getting compensation for loss of limbs and somehow its the railway companies fault. Not my definition of common sense or justice

dvpower

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

The problem is that what is "common sense" is debatable, and different people may have different opinions on it.

Another example of this, but where it went the other way, occurred in my town when I was younger. Two youths broke into a building site. One of them hijacked a forklift and started messing around with it. He accidentally lowered the forks on his friends foot and crushed a few of his toes. The latter had to have 3 toes amputated.

Heres the way that I see it: the two youths invaded private property, messed around, and got hurt out of their own negligence. I would blame the event on a lack of responsibility by the youths.

The judge did not think so. He awarded damages to the youths on the basis that the site wasn't guarded enough.

Isn't what normally happens in these cases that the judge divides responsibility as he sees it and awards damages accordingly?
So it could be that he decided that the youths were 95% responsible, but that the site owners were 5% responsible.

I remember when I was a kid, a new estate being built in the area. It was all pretty open and, inevitably we took to hanging about in the site. Starting up the machinery would be a line that (most of us) wouldn't have crossed, but going in for a good old explore was too good an opportunity to pass up. Personally, if I had had an accident, my folks would have given me a good clip around the ear and there would be no question of sueing, but I think site owners do have some responsibility to secure their site and equipment.

Zombrex

miec wrote: »

I read this article on the Irish times website, basically a girl from Foxrock took the Old Wesley Rugby club to court for damages to her leg. She was in the toilet with her friend (why on earth anyone wants to share a cubicle with another person is beyond me but I have noticed some women have a fetish for this, it freaks me out) and according to her testimony, when she used the toilet, the cistern fell on her leg and cut it. She needed six stiches. Her mother initiated court proceedings, knowing that her 15 year old daughter (at the time, she is now 19) had had two alchohlic drinks and the attendant found two empty spirit bottles in the toilet after the girls rushed out. Thankfully the judge dismissed her claim for €38,000 and I am delighted but I am shocked at the utter irresponsibility of the mother in allowing her daughter to do this, or possibly encouraging her daughter to make a fraudalent claim and continuing the cycle of fraudalent claims. It does not cost €38,000 to give a person six stitches so where they got that figure from beats me. I am interested in hearing other people's viewpoints on this and the abuse of litigation in this country. I am hoping that judges will be like this one and use their common sense and these type of scams stop.

Typical attitude of some parents these days I'm afraid, it is everyone's fault by mine own that my 15 year old brat is an alcoholic.

Reminds me of the South Park movie.

97i9y3941

well,people have been awarded vast amounts for certain things,and theres alot of hard necks and cheek out there,i want to know though,whos picking up the tab in this case,the ejit taxpayer i suppose?..

pablomakaveli

I remember seeing a story from America on tv which shows how ridiculous it is to reward stupidity. Basically a guy was staying at a motel and went for a swim in the swimming pool. He then decided to stick his penis into pump hole in the wall of the swimming pool. It got stuck and he could'nt get himself out. The fire brigade and ambulance then had to be called to remove him.

Now this is funny i know but after all this he decided to sue to motel. Luckily the case was thrown out but the motel owner said had he lost not only would he have been out of pocket but he would have had to put a sign up by the swimming pool warning people not to put their penis into the pump.

Common sense prevailed in this case but it seems these days more and more people are being awarded compensation when it is clear it was their own stupidity that got them injured. Judges need to grow a backbone and throw out these undeserved compensation cases without a second thought.

97i9y3941

i thaught the frozen embryo case was bizzare/waste money aswell..

RandolphEsq

Wicknight wrote: »

Typical attitude of some parents these days I'm afraid, it is everyone's fault by mine own that my 15 year old brat is an alcoholic.

Reminds me of the South Park movie.

Eh . . . she's not an alcoholic. That is an absurd conclusion to come to. She, like the vast majority of people in society, was drinking and had drank too much.
From my reading of the case it seems as if the parents took the case on the girl's behalf but weren't aware of all the facts (that she was even drinking possibly) so she, being a kid, didn't appreciate the seriousness of her claim. Therefore all on the parents is the shame from this case

miec

However, she continued on the case once she became 18 years old and as such has continued on what the parents began so another generation of chancers have been created.

johnnyskeleton

miec wrote: »

I read this article on the Irish times website, basically a girl from Foxrock took the Old Wesley Rugby club to court for damages to her leg. She was in the toilet with her friend (why on earth anyone wants to share a cubicle with another person is beyond me but I have noticed some women have a fetish for this, it freaks me out) and according to her testimony, when she used the toilet, the cistern fell on her leg and cut it. She needed six stiches. Her mother initiated court proceedings, knowing that her 15 year old daughter (at the time, she is now 19) had had two alchohlic drinks and the attendant found two empty spirit bottles in the toilet after the girls rushed out. Thankfully the judge dismissed her claim for €38,000 and I am delighted but I am shocked at the utter irresponsibility of the mother in allowing her daughter to do this, or possibly encouraging her daughter to make a fraudalent claim and continuing the cycle of fraudalent claims. It does not cost €38,000 to give a person six stitches so where they got that figure from beats me. I am interested in hearing other people's viewpoints on this and the abuse of litigation in this country. I am hoping that judges will be like this one and use their common sense and these type of scams stop.

The figure of 38k is the upper limit of the circuit court. People don't usually claim it as a specific amount, rather their claim is limited to 38k.

Just to clarify something, I don't think the actual taking of cases of this nature is wrong or defies common sense, so much as reading between the lines, the Court found that it was most likely her own fault rather than that of the club.

Put another way, if an elderly lady was hit by a falling cistern in the toilet of her local bingo hall which required six stitches, would anyone complain if she sued the bingo hall?

So it seems to me that her version of events (that the cistern fell of its own volition) was not believed, rather than the slant you seem to put on it, which is that someone who was drinking and in a toilet with another girl should not get compensation if a poorly attached cistern falls and cuts their leg.

dvpower

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

So it seems to me that her version of events (that the cistern fell of its own volition) was not believed, rather than the slant you seem to put on it, which is that someone who was drinking and in a toilet with another girl should not get compensation if a poorly attached cistern falls and cuts their leg.

More likely that her version of events was not believed because she was drinking and in a toilet with another girl.

miec

Put another way, if an elderly lady was hit by a falling cistern in the toilet of her local bingo hall which required six stitches, would anyone complain if she sued the bingo hall?

No unless the woman was hiding drinks in the cistern and caused it herself whereas in the case I have discussed it is believed that the girl was drinking in the toilet and hid the drink there. That is the difference. If that had happened to the girl in this case then I would not have written this post but there have been many cases in the past where a person's behaviour caused an accident, they have sued and won and I was delighted that in this case the judge used their common sense and did not believe the girl and saw that the accident was caused by her removing the cistern lid.

97i9y3941

does anybody remember the case of the millionaire developer,sad story,his under age daughter was drinking on a cruise ship,she was drunk and fell over board,and he sued the company..