Overlawyered: Chronicling The High Cost Of Our Legal System

Posts Tagged ‘personal responsibility’

The first refuge of a scoundrel

A Feministe commenter writes about street harassment (h/t Slim):

Last summer, I was walking on the street, holding a large coffee I had just bought. Suddenly, a guy coming from behind me grabbed my ass and asked me ‘where I was walking with that nice ass of mine’. I was lost in my thoughts when it happened, and it surprised me so much that it made me screamed and jumped, which resulted in me throwing *very* hot coffee all over his face and shoulders. It was an accident, but I can’t tell you how much satisfaction I got from hearing him scream in pain as he got burned by the coffee.

The best part? As I was walking away, laughing my ‘nice’ ass off, he screamed at me that he was going to sue me!

Long-time Overlawyered readers will also note the fortunate fact that the commenter’s coffee didn’t have an identifiable brand name that permitted her assailant to sue the restaurant for serving hot coffee.

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Update: San Diego poisoning

A judge has cut from $100 million to $10 million the punitive damages portion of an unusual verdict in a lawsuit arising from Kristin Rossum’s alleged murder by poison of her husband, Gregory de Villers. The distinctive feature of the verdict, on which we commented Mar. 27, was that the jury assigned 25 percent responsibility for the murder to Rossum’s employer, San Diego County, which employed her as a toxicologist and was said to be blameworthy for letting her steal drugs which she administered to him. (“Judge Cuts $90 Million in Damages in San Diego Murder Case”, AP/L.A. Times, Jun. 19)(via Childs).

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Irony and the Illinois Supreme Court

Two decisions came down yesterday, but it’s not clear if the Illinois Supreme Court recognized that it was engaging in self-parody.

In the Tri-G legal malpractice case, Tri-G’s case against its bank was dismissed with prejudice when its law firm failed to be ready to try the case. Tri-G accused its law firm of losing a lawsuit, and sought to recover the damages, including punitive damages, it would have won had the lawsuit been appropriately prosecuted. The Supreme Court held the law firm immune from paying those lost punitive damages, because “holding the [law] firm liable for the intentional or willful and wanton misconduct of a third party” would be inappropriate. (I commented on the different standards for legal and other malpractice at Point of Law.) Effectively, Illinois plaintiffs’ lawyers are now immune from malpractice claims for any failure to achieve punitive damages.

Meanwhile, the same day, in the case of Marshall v. Burger King, which we covered Aug. 3, the Illinois Supreme Court held that Burger King could be held liable for a case where the decedent plaintiff “was killed when a car driven by Fritz crashed through the wall of the Burger King restaurant where the decedent was eating and fatally injured him.” Justice McMorrow’s dissent notes:

According to the majority, a duty to protect a business invitee from the negligent driving of a third person exists where: the landowner’s property is not inherently dangerous or defective and the landowner’s own conduct has not created any risk of harm to the invitee through negligent design or construction; the landowner has complied with all applicable building codes and safety regulations; the landowner has experienced no previous incidents of any sort involving automobile-related accidents, whether similar or not; the parking lot is unremarkable, a sidewalk is present, and the invitee is inside a building behind a half-brick wall; and the only means of protecting the invitee from the negligent driving is to construct an impregnable barrier around the building that, even if possible to construct, may have a negative effect on the safety of business invitees in other circumstances. If there is an affirmative duty to protect a business invitee from out-of-control vehicles on these facts, then such a duty exists for every business which owns a building that abuts a road or parking lot.

The majority’s holding is exceptionally broad and has the potential to alter substantially the function and appearance of every city in the state. With its far-reaching implications, I do not believe that the adoption of the duty of protect, as described by the majority, is an appropriate undertaking for this court.

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MySpace Cross-Complaint?: Alleged rapist blames site

Via Childs, Pete Solis, the 19-year-old who allegedly sexually assaulted a 13-year-old Austin, Texas, girl whose family is suing the MySpace website where the two met, is, Time Magazine reports, contemplating his own litigation against MySpace on the grounds that it made him think he was meeting a 15-year-old.

“MySpace wasn’t there when they went to Whataburger. MySpace wasn’t there when they went to the movie and MySpace wasn’t there when they climbed in the backseat,” [Solis attorney Adam] Reposa said. “Meeting on MySpace — if that alone is enough, then we can make the same claim for damages.”

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Deep pocket files: landlord’s fault apartment resident let in a stranger

Shortly after 7 am on July 11, 1992, Y.M.’s doorbell rang in her Lefrak City project apartment. Y.M. opened the door without asking who was there or checking her peephole. Unfortunately for her, at the door was one Lawrence Toole, who (allegedly?) raped and beat her at knifepoint. This was, according to Y.M.’s suit, the fault of her landlord and its security service for allowing Toole into the building. The Court of Appeals of New York (the high court of that state) held that Y.M. stated a cause of action. “More discovery is warranted to discern how foreseeable a risk [Toole] was and what measures defendants had in place to deal with him.” Mason v. U.E.S.S. Leasing Corp. was decided in 2001: anyone know how this case was resolved on remand?

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Who those wacky warnings are for

On May 2, Bill Childs’ blog covered the litigation over Wolfgang Puck self-heating latte cans, a bad business idea gone worse when the cans never quite worked right. A June 17 commenter, however, perhaps demonstrates why some people need lessons in natural selection rather than attorneys (all misspellings in original, emphasis added):

When will there be a class action suit against WP Gourmet Lattes? In this microwave society and Campbell Soup’s TV ads on microwavable soup in a can, WP’s self-heating can was negligent in it’s small, hidden warning against heating in a microwave (which causes a severe explosion in a matter of seconds). Our microwave was destroyed, our kitchen covered in dried latte and most important, my wife required 7 stiches above her eye.

Some skepticism is warranted; on the Internet, noone knows if you’re a dog, or an especially subtle prankster. I almost hate to publicize this: there’s some chance it’s fake, and if it’s real, it’s likely that this post will help Mr. Edwards find a lawyer who thinks Wolfgang Puck should be held liable when people put a self-heating can in the microwave because its warnings against it weren’t sufficiently idiot-proof.

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Deep pocket files: 1st Security Self-Storage

In June 2004, a jury found Edward James Egan guilty of raping a 15-year old girl. Egan had asked the victim to mop out a storage shed and raped her in an apartment; she also had a sexual encounter with him in an empty storage unit. This was, according to the follow-up lawsuit filed a month later, the fault of 1st Security Self-Storage, which employed Egan. Egan passed a background check, including references from previous employers, but the defendant paid a $150,000 settlement. The article quotes me, as I note the hidden costs of penalizing employers for their employees’ crimes committed outside the scope of their employment. (Mike Allen, “Self-storage company agrees to pay $150,000 settlement”, Roanoke Times, Jun. 7).

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“Jurors award $2 million in child’s mower death”

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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By reader acclaim: foiled robber sues store employees

“A man who was beaten by employees of a store he was trying to rob is now suing.” Dana Buckman “pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery and was sentenced to 18 years in prison as a repeat violent felon” after police say he pulled a semi-automatic pistol and demanded cash from workers at an AutoZone in Rochester last July. Instead, “employees Eli Crespo and Jerry Vega beat him with a pipe and held Buckman at bay with his own gun. …Now Buckman is suing the auto parts store and the two employees who beat him, claiming they committed assault and battery and intentionally inflicted emotional distress.” (“Man who tried to rob store sues for ’emotional distress'”, AP/WAVY, Jun. 12; Michael Zeigler, “Foiled robber claims he’s the victim”, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Jun. 10).

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Bar, bank blamed in drug shooting

On Jun. 19, 2005, police say, at the Keg of Evanston pub in suburban Chicago, Antoine Hill, then 19, shot to death Robert Gresham, 22, in a dispute over drugs. Now Gresham’s estate is suing the bar, for allegedly letting Hill inside and serving him alcohol; and a bank, as well as Hill himself. “Charles Jacques, the attorney representing Gresham’s estate, said he suspects the bank might own the building the bar is in.” Hill has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder. (“Suit filed in Evanston shooting”, Chicago Tribune, Jun. 9).

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