Lawyers successfully urge a Virginia jury to send a message:
Justin Simmons was killed in April 2004 in Daleville, north of Roanoke, when a mower operated at his daycare center rolled backward while going up a slope and over the child….The jury held MTD responsible for not designing a mower that automatically stops its blades whenever it rolls backward. No such mower exists or has ever been tested, [company attorney John] Fitzpatrick said.
The company also argued that the operator of the mower, whose wife was the daycare provider, had ignored safety warnings. (”Jurors award $2 million in child’s mower death– company to appeal”, AP/Richmond Times-Dispatch, Jun. 15).
More: Considerable further detail is to be found in Mike Allen’s coverage for the Roanoke Times: “Lawyers for lawn mower maker, operator lay blame in boy’s death”, Jun. 8, and “Lawn mower company liable in boy’s death”, Jun. 15.
More: Aug. 18.
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I just bought a John Deere lawn tractor that has an annoying feature: a dashboard button must be held down while the tractor is put in reverse, else the engine is shut off. Guess I can look forward to many more engineered inconveniences in the future.
I would like to know if the lawyers have promised to place a portion of their fees into a company that will design, build and market such a mower. I mow going forward and in reverse, do they want to make it impossible to do so?
In this, as in many other endeavors, the people bringing the ludicrous theories will not be the ones having to actually live with the results (ver se a lawyer, especially a wealthy one, doing his own lawn?), so what do they care what happens AFTER the suit? All that matters is that they get their pay-day.
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