26 Comments

  • Talk about frivolous lawsuits…

  • These lawyers should have their next home built with lumber following these exact dimensions as labeled. Nothing will fit right, from window casements that are slightly too shallow for the walls, uneven floors, and door frames that don’t fit the wall’s thickness.

    The current system is almost as if someone carefully thought about what the actual dimension of the lumber should be. And every manner of building product has been dimensioned around the true dimensions of the lumber.

  • Will there ever come a day when class-action lawyers have exhausted every last nook and cranny into which they can worm themselves in order to extract cost-of-litigation settlements? I doubt it, for the day has long since past when any member of the judiciary has enough balls to close the door on this ridiculous type of litigation.

    Maybe these lawyers can have the case decided by a panel of people actually in the trade. Once they’re done laughing at every idiot witness claiming he or she was misled by the reality of dimensional lumber, they can shift costs to the plaintiffs and dismiss the case. A 4×4 hasn’t been 4 inches by 4 inches for well over 100 years.

  • You know, the lumber isn’t exactly the length they say it is. In the example from the story they use a 2x4x10. Well, it’ll actually be about 10’1″, give or take, so that you can square up the ends. I suppose the whiny birch that filled this would still complain about extra dimension because he doesn’t have a saw.

  • Welcome (belatedly) the the byproduct of regulatory overreach by the likes of Kamala Harris and other state AGs under the pretext of “weights and measures.” This has been going on (and extracting millions from the private sector) for a decade.

  • What next? 2×4 lawsuit because it isn’t really 2″ by 4″? And then there is 1×2, 2×6, 2×10, 2×12 and a myriad of even larger sizes… And they have all shrunk after being cut into lumber and in some cases pressure treated.

    • No. the loss is due to planing down. Rough cut are full dimension/

  • Next up, a lawsuit against Rand-McNally because the distance between two points is actually 26.2369 miles, not the 26 miles marked on the map.

    • If you’re running a marathon, that makes a difference. And, if there’s a big payday in it for me, I’ll assert that I was training for a marathon, but the extra .1369 miles broke my spirit, and I went back to eating Twinkies, drinking sodas loaded with sugar, and eating trans-fat deep fried everythings.

  • I was wondering why the local Home Depots suddenly put up signs giving the actual sizes corresponding to nominal lumber sizes. Now I know the rest of the story.

    I also knew that a 2×4 wasn’t a 2×4 back when I was eight years old. Of course, it’s shrunk even more since then.

  • Apparently, he’d rather sue than learn the difference between nominal and dimensional lumber sizes. This isn’t new – in fact, its likely older than the plaintiff. History of Yard Lumber

    Why is it that juries (or Judges ruling over class actions) allow our system of litigation to be used to provide massive financial rewards for incredible ignorance to a few named plaintiffs and their attorneys? It seems there should be a “too stupid/ignorant to serve as a representative plaintiff” defense. That wouldn’t protect guilty defendants from actual small harms spread over huge numbers of plaintiffs, but it would provide some shield from those bring claims grounded in seemingly deliberate ignorance.

  • True story (up to a point):

    I recently decided to make a shelf using so called 1″ X 2″ pine slats. I grew up around wood. I knew that the 1″ X 2″ was actually 3/4″ X 1 1/2″ Even the sign at the big box store told me that was the dimensions.

    I got the lumber home and cut all the pieces only to find nothing fit correctly. The shelf was actually wider than it should have been.

    I measured the wood and instead of being 1 1/2″ wide, it was actually 1 19/32″ wide. The incorrect dimensions threw everything off and I plan on suing the store for false advertising.

    Rat finks!

  • These lawyers are obviously not trained in the sciences. Labeling something that is 3-3/4″ at 4″ is perfectly acceptable because the decimal place is not used, indicating tolerances +/- 0.5″.

  • Wait until the plaintiff learns a 16 penny nail has no pennies in it.

  • I call dibs on the first “baker’s dozen” lawsuit.

  • So, how many fluid ounces are in a cup? How about if it’s a cup of coffee? And where were you drinking it? And there’s an old trick question: Which is heavier, a pound of feathers or a pound of gold? (Answer: feathers!) Was the beer you drank at the pub last time a pint? Was that an Imperial pint, or a US fluid pint? Sometimes, you just gotta know. There may be a right to be ignorant, but I don’t think it commands much respect. If you’re really interested in truth, the exact truth, every measured product should not only state the exact number of units (cup, foot, ounce, etc.) but the definition or at least the exact name of the unit. But that’s as preposterous as having always to tell time as it is reported on radio station WWV. These lawsuits are frivolous, IMO.

    • The pound of feathers is only heavier because you also have to carry the weight of what you did to those poor birds…

      • No, the feathers are heavier because the question deliberately confuses two different systems of weights.

        A pound of feathers would be measured in the standard Imperial pounds, but precious metals are always weighed in troy pounds.

        A troy pound is 10 troy ounces vs 16 imperial ounces to an imperial pound.

        A troy ounce is heavier than an imperial ounce, but the troy pound still comes to only around 0.8 imperial pounds.

  • If it gets us to start using the metric system it will be worth it.

  • gosta get me one of those 0.3m’s from subway that may actually be 0.28m…Metric enough for you?

  • The fact that a big-box home improvement stores has already settled the suit brought against them is even more troubling than the lawsuit itself. The lawyers representing Home Depot or Menards should tell the plaintiffs’ lawyers, “Let’s go to trial, boys [the actual complaint I looked at lists three attorneys, all of whom are men, so anyone about to get up on their hind legs about my comment being sexist can calm themselves]. We’ll bring in our experts; you bring yours.” Idiots. The world’s full of them, but so many of them seem to belong to the ranks of class-action plaintiffs attorneys.

  • There isn’t a physical dimension in the world that is exact. By the way, if you want to go metric is a 90 X 90 good enough or do you want an 88.9 X 88.9? I hope the defendants win, and get the judge to sanction the plaintiff for attorney’s fees and expenses.

  • My fast food worker at lunch was supposed to provide $1.08 in change, but he only provided $1.03. True story.

    Saddle up boys!!! Times millions, that’s not a bad payday.

  • Don’t fear the future. I saw 5mm thick sheets of underlayment plywood this morning at H D. That means they’re retooling some mills. Construction is one of the last big hold-outs.

  • What do you want to bet that the 5mm plywood measures out to 3/16″?

    I get this all of the time. 1/4″ acrylic measures out to 6mm. 1/2″ comes in at 13mm.
    when you look at the manufacturer’s specs the difference is always with in tolerance.

  • Oh. Does it sound better in lawyer-speak?

    “When ordinary household goods such as BMWs, Rolexes and magnums of Champagne are created using the scientific and technical advantages of the International System of Units, why would we accept anything less for our real property? ”

    See? A nonsense argument with a vague emotional appeal to vanity. And I bet it works.