Comments on: April 11 roundup

By: Bill Poser

Bill Poser — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:19:37 +0000

That the equipment dealer has to pay the bulk of the verdict does seem unfair, but I think that the case is not as clearcut as it seems. The news article says:

“Vermeer was accused of negligence by not removing the wire holding the solenoid open and not telling G.M. Sipes to stop using the cutter until after fixing an engine problem that had previously caused it to shut down without apparent reason.”

This seems to indicate that Vermeer did not merely supply the machine but was responsible for maintenance and was aware of the fact that the contractor had disabled the emergency stop button and did nothing about it. If so, Vermeer did indeed contribute to the accident.

By: OBQuiet

OBQuiet — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:05:03 +0000

Tom T.

It was my understanding that majority of all Aircraft and auto accidents were the result of weather or driver/pilot error, not equipment failures. Though I could certainly be misinformed on this. But if the claims being made about lack of oversight are true, then the fact that we have not seen a significant increase in airplane accidents does suggest I am correct.

I am not trying to minimize the importance of maintaining equipment in either case, just pointing out that unless it is really ignored, it is not likely to have a significant impact on the numbers.

By: A Reader

A Reader — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:53:16 +0000

New Mexico Human Rights Commission fines photographer $6600 for refusing a job photographing same-sex commitment ceremony

A rabbi refused to officiate my wedding because my wife is not Jewish. Do I have a case?

(He said he would officiate weddings between two Jews or two non-Jews, but would not participate in an inter-religious wedding.)

By: Matthew

Matthew — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:09:21 +0000

Poor Fieger… it’s puzzling that he’s unable to see that when you’ve devoted your career to making a fool of yourself, being aggressively rude, dishonest, greedy and obnoxious, people generally form a negative opinion of you. He calls it bias, but that word suggests that people are making a decision based on a lack of knowledge rather than what they actually have, which is a working knowledge of the sham he calls a career.

You made your bed, Jeff. Time to lie in it. Here’s to hoping for prison time. Good riddance.

By: Tom T.

Tom T. — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 11:11:43 +0000

Murray’s squib on air travel ignores cause and effect. The reason air travel is safer than car travel is because air travel is subject to greater safety checks. If the airline ignores those safety checks, then the safety advantage of air travel goes away.

By: Jim Collins

Jim Collins — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 09:05:41 +0000

You have to love our legal system. Someone disables a safety switch and the people who sold them the machine end up paying. I had to give a statement a few months ago concerning a lawsuit over a machine that I helped design. A man lost 3 fingers while trying to replace a part with the machine in operation. That he had to override 4 separate safety interlocks to do this is apparently irrelevant. I’m more than a bit concerned about this since the company being sued downsized me about 10 months ago and my name is in the “Designed By:” box of a lot of blueprints there.

You have to wonder if someone is going to sue American Airlines because they were in a car accident because of a canceled flight. I wouldn’t put it past them.

By: Supremacy Claus

Supremacy Claus — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:59:19 +0000

Bottom line on the school bullying matter from your comments section? https://www.overlawyered.com/2008/04/a-nyt-schoolbullying-story-com.html#comment-16521 Criticism of a special ed student is to become a constitutional tort. School discipline gets lawyerized, and teachers get silenced by the fear of ruinous litigation. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=632303