Robert Baswell, 44 and homeless, went to sleep in a trash bin, which was a really bad idea: garbage collectors emptied the container into their truck, and Baswell
…was repeatedly crushed each time the truck compacted a new load of trash, breaking his legs and ribs.
The cringe factor on that is pretty high.
But now there’s another reason to cringe.
We got a press release from this man’s new lawyers — Steinger, Iscoe & Greene in West Palm Beach. The press release simply says that they are representing him, presumably for a future lawsuit.
(Rochelle E.B. Gilken, Behind the Yellow Tape (Palm Beach Post blog), May 10; “Man Crushed By Trash Truck Shares Story”, KFOX, May 15; law firm’s press release).
One Comment
I’m not sure, but in the town I live in at least, the dumpsters are rented property. Could his sleeping in a dumpster constitute trespassing?
I’ve read enough on this site over the last few years to know that doesn’t amount to much in the courtroom (the two idiots that jumped the “NO TRESPASSING” and then the “DANGER: HIGH VOLTAGE” signs in the rail yard and got zapped silly comes to mind here), but could the people that own the dumpster make that argument against the homeless guy? Would it be prudent for them do to such?
I know that in alot of cases like this, if the company that is getting bent over for the stupidity of someone else comes out harshly against the injured party, the press and the lawyers tend to paint the people in the right (the trash company in this case) as heartless and that can lead to a bad stint of publicity and a public relations nightmare. Would it be better to settle and say they are sorry and face the chance of a person with less scruples about life setting them up for another payout or fight vigorously and try to stem any future possibility of a judgement against them? Or would maybe they think, “hey, we’re a trash collection company and who cares if we have a bad and evil public impression? We’re collecting trash for cryin’ out loud!!”
Me personally, I think I would go for the throat and maybe pay a hospital bill because I am a nice guy, but beyond that I wouldn’t give a flying damn about the guy. MAybe I would even offer him a job, but I certainly wouldn’t apologize too much for his problems. Sleep in the dumpster and occasionally you’re gonna get squeezed.
Until some other time…