On Thu, 4 Apr 2002, Chris wrote:
To go back to
the hammer for a moment, if I go out and buy a hammer and
bash somebody's head in with it, then I am guilty of murder. The company
that made the hammer, and the shop that sold it to me, are not. And
that's how it should be.
Scary thing is... here in the US, it doesn't seem to work that logically.
People have been sueing gun manufacturers off and on because they made
the gun that was used to kill someone.
I don't know if anyone has WON a suit, but I do know the suits have been
filed (and win or loose, you are costing the gun maker needless legal
troubles).
Sueing people has become so much the norm here... that the government has
had to step in and offer insurance backing for the companies cleaning up
the world trade center... because the companies know ALREADY that there
will be lawsuits when they are done, and without insurance, they know
they will be sued into bankruptcy. AND, since it is such a known fact
that they will be sued... no insurance company was willing to insure
them, which meant they weren't willing to do the work... so the
government had to step in and offer backing.
F-ing scary!
Remember, this is the country that awarded 3 million dollars to a lady
because she put her hot coffee in her lap, and then spilled it... and was
able to sue McDonalds because the coffee was too hot and it burned her
(yes, there is more to that story, but the fact that she was even able to
get to trial is just f-ed up... where is the personal responsibility in
this country?!?)
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>
The trial lawyers, in cahoots with their cohorts in the Congress, have
pretty well eliminated it with the `deep pocket' approach in lawsuits,
and class action suits that are `opt out' rather than `opt in' as they
ought to be. It is all part of a very successful program - to make
lawyers rich(er) - at the expense of everyone else.
- don