At Forest Avenue and Sixteenth Street in Des Moines, two miscreant youths who’d been riding with friends in a rented 1999 Chevy Blazer began shooting off a large quantity of fireworks at persons and vehicles in the neighborhood. What happened next is somewhat muddled by the contradictory accounts of various witnesses, but involved the detonation of the substantial trove of fireworks in the Blazer’s cargo area, severely injuring several of the car’s occupants. Last month the Iowa Supreme Court ruled against a lawsuit seeking to make Enterprise Rent-a-Car pay for the injuries through vicarious liability, saying the accident could not reasonably be attributed to the driving of the young woman who’d rented the vehicle. (Wells v. Whitaker and Enterprise). Random Mentality (Dec. 10) has more.
Posts Tagged ‘personal responsibility’
Couldn’t outrun cops, sues them instead
Connecticut:
A 21-year-old New Haven man who led Hamden police on a high-speed chase on his all-terrain vehicle before crashing into a utility pole last summer wants the town to pay his medical bills.
Britt Martin, of 75 George Street, claims that Officer Stephen DeGrand and four other unidentified officers were responsible for his injuries because they violated a Police Department policy to discontinue high-speed pursuits when the risk exceeds the need for immediate apprehension….
DeGrand said the suspect went through red lights and made illegal turns while driving well in excess of the speed limit during the chase.
(Fred Musante, Cops blamed for ATV crash, Hamden Journal, Dec. 29). More high-speed chase suits: Feb. 18 and Apr. 27, 2004; Sept. 21, 2003, etc.
Madison County suit: pharmacy’s fault plaintiff overdosed from stolen drugs
Jode L. Sandbach recently pleaded guilty to a February theft of Oxycontin and Xanax from pharmacist Michael J. Cleary and his pharmacy, The Medicine Shoppe in Wood River, Illinois. She (again illegally, of course) gave the drugs to her boyfriend, Justin Stalcup, who promptly overdosed and died. The death was ruled an accident. Stalcup’s estate isn’t just suing Sandbach, but also Cleary and the pharmacy–notwithstanding the three intervening criminal acts, and the decedent’s own negligence (if not intentional suicide). (Brian Brueggemann, “Man’s estate sues pharmacy where drugs stolen”, Belleville News-Democrat, Dec. 17; Brian Brueggemann, “Woman charged after pal dies from drug overdose”, Belleville News-Democrat, Mar. 20).
Backs SUV over toddler, blames Nissan
In Garland, Texas, in October, a man backing up his Infiniti SUV accidentally ran over and killed his two-and-a-half-year-old daughter. Now, represented by attorney Windle Turley, his family is suing Nissan, parent company of Infiniti. “They claim new back-up video cameras or sensors which detect objects behind a vehicle were available, and should have been installed in their SUV.” (Don Wall, “Garland family sues carmaker over toddler’s death”, WFAA-TV (Dallas-Fort Worth), Nov. 17). GruntDoc had a strong reaction to the story (Nov. 20).
Fake princess to Amex: you let me run up debt
Antoinette Millard told New Yorkers she was a Saudi princess, and ran up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, when she was actually Lisa Walker, a divorced investment banker from Buffalo who lived in a one-bedroom apartment on 89th Street and Third Avenue. (Photo of “Antoinette” at a January society party.) She got caught when she tried to make a fake insurance claim for stolen jewelry eleven days after purchasing the policy. From Rikers Island, she’s countersuing American Express for daring to seek to recover the $951,000 she charged without paying, claiming they “should have known that [she] was acting impulsively and irrationally” because of “anorexia, depression, panic attacks, [and] head tumors” and shouldn’t have been given credit in the first place. She seeks $2 million. (Samuel Maull, AP, Nov. 24; Dareh Gregorian, “The Gall-$tar”, New York Post, Nov. 25).
$3.5M to unsuccessful suicide
Such suits are sufficiently common (e.g., Oct. 8, May 20, Jan. 31, 2003) that we can almost retire the category. Lawyers for Christopher Foster, a male prostitute who, while imprisoned, attempted to hang himself but only managed to self-inflict severe brain damage, argue that the mix-up in paperwork that resulted in his being put in a conventional cell instead of on suicide watch was a constitutional violation. While it’s perhaps too much to ask that suicides only blame themselves, most federal courts recognize that the standard for a constitutional violation is “deliberate indifference” rather than negligence. This case somehow got to trial and the City of Philadelphia is on the hook for $3.5 million (7% of the $50M Foster asked for) after a settlement. Foster won’t be conscious of the marginal difference in life-long nursing care (which one suspects is being shifted from one government expense account to another), but his lawyers, from the firm Kline & Specter (Jan. 24, 2003), will sure appreciate their seven-digit cut from taxpayers. (Joseph A. Slobodzian, “City abruptly settles suicide-prevention suit for $3.5 million”, Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 23; Jim Smith, “City to pay $3.5M in jail hanging case”, Philadelphia Daily News, Nov. 23).
More on Pittsburgh RR crossing case
Reader Steve Headley advises us that there have been follow-ups to the case (publicized worldwide) of Patricia Frankhouser of Jeannette, Pa., who’s suing the Norfolk Southern railway over a broken finger and other injuries she suffered in an encounter with one of its freight trains; the suit, among its other contentions, claimed the railroad should have warned that walking along the tracks was dangerous and should have yielded the right of way (see Nov. 12). After the original reports in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Post-Gazette, and a Tribune-Review letter to the editor and editorial critical of the suit, attorney Harry F. Smail Jr. wrote in to the paper with his side of the story (Nov. 16). Smail argues that the case is meritorious because Frankhouser was earlier acquitted of charges of criminal trespass arising from being on the tracks. His response drew another critical letter to the editor (Nov. 17). (& update Feb. 20).
Attorney Smail, incidentally, has lately been involved in another colorful case, successfully representing a woman who passed a supposed $200 bill at a Fashion Bug; neither she nor the store clerk realized that there is no $200 denomination and that the bill was a joke replica with pictures and other references to President George W. Bush, Jr. (Bob Stiles, “Charges withdrawn against woman who used bogus bill”, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Nov. 13; “Charges Dropped in Bogus Bush Bill Case”, The Guardian (UK), Nov. 15).
RR didn’t warn not to walk on tracks
“A Jeannette woman who was slightly injured after being struck by a train while walking along railroad tracks sued Norfolk Southern Corp. Thursday for failing to warn pedestrians that trains travel on tracks.” Patricia Frankhouser suffered a broken finger as well as cuts and scrapes; her lawyer, Harry F. Smail Jr. of Greensburg, “argues that the railroad was negligent for failing to post signs warning ‘of the dangers of walking near train tracks and that the tracks were actively in use.'” (Matthew Junker, “Woman struck by train sues railroad”, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Nov. 5). Other counts in the suit include the railroad’s failure to put up gates and the failure of its engineer to stop faster or yield the right of way. (“Jeannette woman sues railroad”, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 9). Updates Nov. 23: more on case including attorney Smail’s defense of suit; Feb. 20 (RR asks dismissal).
When Good Samaritans sue
At an Iowa casino, a parking valet asks two arriving patrons to help out a 200-lb. man who has fallen out of his wheelchair in the parking lot. They do so, one of them helping to lift the man and the other steadying the wheelchair. They then proceed to enter the casino and gamble for several hours. Seven months later, they sue the casino company saying they were both injured while helping out the fallen customer. A trial court dismissed the claim on summary judgment, and a court of appeals upheld that dismissal, perhaps burnishing Iowa’s reputation as having one of the more reasonable legal systems as states go. Random Mentality has more (Sept. 9, scroll), and the opinion is here (Linda Munz & John Winkers v. Peninsula Gaming, Sept. 9).
School blamed for class-cutters’ drunken binge
Montana:
The parents of two 11-year-old boys who died of exposure and alcohol poisoning last winter after cutting class to go drink have sued Ronan Public Schools for $4 million.
They allege the school district failed in its duty “to follow its policy and protect and safeguard children that were entrusted to their care.”
The lawsuit also alleges that [the school district] has discriminated against American Indians by “failing to properly select, train and implement Native American staff who are sensitive to the disability of alcoholism,” thus making Pablo School District partially responsible “for the actions of children who were allowed to leave school and die of alcohol and hypothermia.”
(John Stromnes, “Parents sue Ronan school over deaths of their sons”, The Missoulian, Nov. 6). Update Mar. 2, 2006: jury renders defense verdict.