Meet your new thread, same as the old thread.

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
I link to one of the neatest short stories in recent american letters, and the only response is SS's sicko sock? Fuck this. I can't educate this rabble on any level.

Which one of the kids was Clinton?

[Shape Shifter]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
It is pretty clear you have never worked anywhere near a PI lawyer, plus you are preternaturally gullible.

Every products case starts with the PI guy doing a patent search to show how many simple great solutions are out there and the bad manufacturer ignored them because of GREED!!! Of course the fact that there are massive practical problems with the available solutions gets pushed under the rug.

I worked at a firm that had a PI dept. They were asked to speak at a firm meeting. They had just hit on a massive judgement against a hot water tank manufacturer. A 2 year boy was left alone in his basement. The proud parents also stored gasoline in the basement. The little boy started pouring the gas on the floor. fumes came up and the pilot light on the hot water tank ignited the fumes. the boy was horribly burned.

Our white hat guys jumped in. They created the theory that if only the pilot light had a tube extending 10 inches higher, then the American family man could safely ignore his child and not worry about him having access to the gasoline storage areas. It was a bullshit theory, but there it was. Until, in a needle in the haystack document inspection they found a sketch by an engineer of a tube to raise the pilot light. It never went anywhere because you cannot restrict airflow to the pilot light, but so what!! We made zillions. Actually the money came in the month before I made partner

Somehow, I don't see how we helped society.

People want spas and hot tubs and swimming pools. All of those require water to circulate. Manufacturers try to make them safer, but they still have to be workable. Life is unsafe.

Different facts, different case. If you'd read the link, you'd know it was a failure to warn case, anyway.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by taxwonk
Which one of the kids was Clinton?

huh?

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
It is pretty clear you have never worked anywhere near a PI lawyer, plus you are preternaturally gullible.

Every products case starts with the PI guy doing a patent search to show how many simple great solutions are out there and the bad manufacturer ignored them because of GREED!!! Of course the fact that there are massive practical problems with the available solutions gets pushed under the rug.

I worked at a firm that had a PI dept. They were asked to speak at a firm meeting. They had just hit on a massive judgement against a hot water tank manufacturer. A 2 year boy was left alone in his basement. The proud parents also stored gasoline in the basement. The little boy started pouring the gas on the floor. fumes came up and the pilot light on the hot water tank ignited the fumes. the boy was horribly burned.

Our white hat guys jumped in. They created the theory that if only the pilot light had a tube extending 10 inches higher, then the American family man could safely ignore his child and not worry about him having access to the gasoline storage areas. It was a bullshit theory, but there it was. Until, in a needle in the haystack document inspection they found a sketch by an engineer of a tube to raise the pilot light. It never went anywhere because you cannot restrict airflow to the pilot light, but so what!! We made zillions. Actually the money came in the month before I made partner

Somehow, I don't see how we helped society.

People want spas and hot tubs and swimming pools. All of those require water to circulate. Manufacturers try to make them safer, but they still have to be workable. Life is unsafe.

I'm afraid to get past the "you're full of shit" barrier, you're going to have to come up with at least one plausible problem created by screwing the drain cover down that outweighs the statistically reliable likelihood of a hundred or more deaths a year from kids getting their arms, legs, hair, etc. caught in a pool drain.

That way we can avoid the inherent grossnesss of a kid getting her guts sucked out.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by taxwonk
I'm afraid to get past the "you're full of shit" barrier, you're going to have to come up with at least one plausible problem created by screwing the drain cover down that outweighs the statistically reliable likelihood of a hundred or more deaths a year from kids getting their arms, legs, hair, etc. caught in a pool drain.

That way we can avoid the inherent grossnesss of a kid getting her guts sucked out.

Even the blog makes clear that the drain cover was manufactured to be screwed down.

[Shape Shifter]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
Even the blog makes clear that the drain cover was manufactured to be screwed down.

And I've done enough defense work to know that when you have $22.5 million in liability coverage and a horribly injured child, your opening offer needs to be more than $100,000.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Shape Shifter
And I've done enough defense work to know that when you have $22.5 million in liability coverage and a horribly injured child, your opening offer needs to be more than $100,000.

True. because of trial attorneys.

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
True. because of trial attorneys.

This argument carries so much more weight with people who don't know how much lawyers make (and add to the overall cost of doing business) in every commercial or financial endeavor.

[Shape Shifter]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
True. because of trial attorneys.

You think $100,000 would be adequate for her injuries? I don't think a jury would.

I used to get frustrated at insurance companies agreeing to settlements far greater than what I thought was warranted (in a case where liability was not contested, it was only causation/damages). They just wanted to free up their reserves.

[Secret_Agent_Man]

Originally posted by sebastian_dangerfield
He did, and its been debated that his closing in the case was among the most grotesque things every scripted and allowed to pollute the air of a courthouse.

I didn't know they had contests for that sort of thing.

Trials (especially jury trials) are all about who lied, cheated, or stole. The best story-teller usually wins. (Being the best-prepared helps a lot too.)

All any lawyer is supposed to do at trial is win for their client, acting within the bounds of legal ethics and the court rules. I know you don't like Edwards, SD, but that seems a bit much.

I'll weep for the poor manufacturer another time.

S_A_M

[Shape Shifter]

Happy Birthday, W.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by taxwonk
This argument carries so much more weight with people who don't know how much lawyers make (and add to the overall cost of doing business) in every commercial or financial endeavor.

I was pointing to SS's assumption that a company that manufactured a perfectly safe product, that had been misused, was wrong in "only" offering 100K initially. This is a tax on all consumers that increases how much pools/spas cost us so that we can give an out of line windfall to someone who was horribly injured, but not due to the company's negligence.

[SlaveNoMore]

Hank Chinaski
I link to one of the neatest short stories in recent american letters...

If it makes you feel any better, it took about 3 healthy glasses of Lagavulin to get that friggin' awful image of the "sea serpent" out of my mind.

[Shape Shifter]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
I was pointing to SS's assumption that a company that manufactured a perfectly safe product, that had been misused, was wrong in "only" offering 100K initially. This is a tax on all consumers that increases how much pools/spas cost us so that we can give an out of line windfall to someone who was horribly injured, but not due to the company's negligence.

If only they'd had your brilliant defense.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Shape Shifter
If only they'd had your brilliant defense.

I am not saying I wouldn't have offered a few million. I was simply pointing out that the argument the company should have offered a few million actually proves the point that thngs are haywired.