There is a huge misconception on how many frivolous lawsuits actually occur in the United States and a lot of the shit that most people have heard about is completely misunderstood.
For example, here's what actually happened in the infamous Mcdonald's case:
On February 27, 1992, Stella Liebeck, a 79-year-old woman from Albuquerque, New Mexico, ordered a 49¢ cup of coffee from the drive-through window of a local McDonald's restaurant. Liebeck was in the passenger's seat of her Ford Probe, and her grandson Chris parked the car so that Liebeck could add cream and sugar to her coffee. She placed the coffee cup between her knees and pulled the far side of the lid toward her to remove it. In the process, she spilled the entire cup of coffee on her lap. Liebeck was wearing cotton sweatpants; they absorbed the coffee and held it against her skin as she sat in the puddle of hot liquid for over 90 seconds, scalding her thighs, buttocks, and groin. Liebeck was taken to the hospital, where it was determined that she had suffered third-degree burns on six percent of her skin and lesser burns over sixteen percent.[11] She remained in the hospital for eight days while she underwent skin grafting. During this period, Liebeck lost 20 pounds (nearly 20% of her body weight), reducing her down to 83 pounds. Two years of medical treatment followed.
So yeah, try to do some research before you say something insipid like, "DUHH THAT'S AMERKUH FOR U."
I know a lot of people like to defend that she was right to sue Mcdonalds but some of us just shake our heads and question a few points:
1/ The only way I am putting boiling water (212f/100c for those who don't know) near my genitals is at gun point.
2/ She was wearing sweatpants... cotton sweatpants... any none virgin guy can tell you they take less than 2 seconds to pull off ('nuff said there!).
3/ Common_fricken_sense! Don't poke a bear, don't see if a gun is loaded by looking down the barrel, don't tug on Superman's cape, don't spit into the wind, and you just don't mess around with Slim.
Frivilous lawsuits are a waste of a lot of peoples time and money.
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Hot coffee lawsuit = contributory-negligence. Look it up. It was still stupid. They handed her a perfectly safe sealed cup of coffee. She chose to open it in a stupid place in a stupid way. And who sits in anything for 90 seconds that can give you 3rd degree burns. I don't think that's even possible unless you pass out or are too old and weak to do otherwise. I can pull my own pants down off my skin in 5 seconds if they're covered in liquid burning, even in a car, she can't? It really reads much more like someone trying to intentionally burn themselves in order to sue and taking it much further than they thought they would with the burning.
Hot coffee lawsuit = contributory-negligence. Look it up. It was still stupid. They handed her a perfectly safe sealed cup of coffee. She chose to open it in a stupid place in a stupid way. And who sits in anything for 90 seconds that can give you 3rd degree burns. I don't think that's even possible unless you pass out or are too old and weak to do otherwise. I can pull my own pants down off my skin in 5 seconds if they're covered in liquid burning, even in a car, she can't? It really reads much more like someone trying to intentionally burn themselves in order to sue and taking it much further than they thought they would with the burning.
Great. Now I have the image of a 79 year old lady screaming and ripping off her sweat pants in my head. Thanks for that. heh I do have some family members in that area and a little beyond, you may be underestimating the woman's fragility. My great-grandmother walked into a table not too far back (she's in her late 80's now) and ended up breaking her leg (something I would've shrugged off with a bruise and a few inappropriate phrases). Not sure how the coffee incident was McDonald's fault though.
@Biscuit: Not sure how that came into conversation with stupid lawsuits though. Because one incident got bad publicity and may have held some shred of validity, there are no stupid lawsuits in America? Fail to see the logic there. There are plenty of other examples to choose from. In this case, the rule wasn't written from a single occurrence.
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Hot coffee lawsuit = contributory-negligence. Look it up. It was still stupid. They handed her a perfectly safe sealed cup of coffee. She chose to open it in a stupid place in a stupid way. And who sits in anything for 90 seconds that can give you 3rd degree burns. I don't think that's even possible unless you pass out or are too old and weak to do otherwise. I can pull my own pants down off my skin in 5 seconds if they're covered in liquid burning, even in a car, she can't? It really reads much more like someone trying to intentionally burn themselves in order to sue and taking it much further than they thought they would with the burning.
The thing is, the coffee wasn't perfectly safe; at that time, McDonald's intentionally served their coffee hotter than normal due(roughly 190 degrees F) to a customer survey. They found that most who purchased coffee at the drive-through waited roughly 15-20 minutes before actually drinking the coffee; in order to prevent it from being nearly lukewarm by then, they served the coffee far hotter so that it would be a "normal" hot temperature by the time it was actually consumed. At this temperature, however, third-degree burns can be caused within seven seconds.
On top of that, the woman in question sued simply to have the company cover her medical bills; it was the jury that awarded her the insane amount that she ended up with. Her medical bills were around $11,000 and she wanted to settle for $20,000; McDonald's, however, would only go as high as $800 and refused to go any higher. After the judge lowered the punitive damages, she would have received $640,000...far from the $2.7 million the jury awarded.
I know this is a bit of a derail...but c'mon.
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Well Sony might as well make their games for people that have had their nuts ripped off and shoved down their throat, because that's what I'm going to do to this dumb ass if I ever meet him. The World + Less STUPID ASS PEOPLE = A Much Better Place.
I am only 5'7" inches tall and I have a horrible 3 point shot, maybe I can sue the NBA.
You would really need to sue several people at once:
-the company that made the ball to heavy for you to be able to heave it that far.
-whomever came up with the distance the 3 point arc is for you to heave the over weight ball
-possibly the shoe company that made your shoes so under performing you couldn't jump high enough to heave the over weight ball the exaggerated distance.
You get the picture.
__________________ Sometimes you just gotta club a baby seal with a kitten. When in doubt, empty the magazine. I like it rough!
There are times I am sad to be an American where we let this crap happen. WTF are you doing playing games when you cant f'n see!! It's not like TV where you can listen and dont have to interact. I hope the douche loses his/her case and pays out the ass in court costs
