Liability roundup

5 Comments

  • Livestock accidents… because we couldn’t sell back our first year torts book, so we have to get the cash back somehow. We also handle snails in soft drinks.

    • When I was growing up in a rural area, livestock accidents were more frequent than you might think. I knew of one woman who was killed when she rounded a curve at normal and lawful speed, and collided with a cow.

      Wandering cattle are particularly dangerous to car drivers and passengers for a simple physical reason. Hitting a cow is not like hitting a wall. A cow or horse has a high center of mass because they stand on legs. They have less mass in a position to crumple the front of the car, so they tend to roll up over the hood, and crush the passenger compartment.

      A local railroad also had issues with wandering livestock. Farmers would sue the RR when a train killed their cow. Although the RR had a legally better claim (ie: negligence of the farmer), the farmer usually got the better outcome in the courts, partly because people perceived the RR as having deep pockets and suffering much less damage.

  • Don’t forget the numerous Mouse in a Coke Bottle cases from the early 1900’s…we studied them first year. One cynical judge commented (as I remember) “It is amazing, and tragic, how many rodents have recently met their demise seeking refreshment in soft drink bottles.”

  • Where I grew up, except on limited access highways, cattle have the right of way.

  • In the case of the lawyer using police reports to solicit cases, I don’t see why the lawyer is the target of the privacy suit. If there is fault here, doesn’t it lie with the police for releasing unredacted accident reports?