Missing Info In Owner's Manual

[Thaiboxer]

This actually happened...shows how easy it is for somebody to sue you in the States when it was them who should be sued!

Here it goes:

A man bought himself a brand new Winnebago (large motorhome). As he was driving down the highway, he set the cruise control at 70mph (112kph) and decided to head to the kitchen and make himself a cup of coffee. To nobody's surprise, the Winnebago went off the highway and crashed. The man survived and sued the company for $400,000. The reason he was awarded the money: The owner's manual for the Winnebago didn't specify that you couldn't leave the wheel once it was set to cruise control.

Here in Thailand, they would have said "son nam naa" (Serves you right) and laughed at this guy.

[peter991]

Don't they teach Common Sense these days at school? Or does the world have a glut of lawyers who need work? Perhaps that's why we constantly see bizarre instructions on almost every item we buy.

Like on a cup of coffee at McDonalds: Caution drink may be hot (that covers hot and cold and everything in-between), or a McDonalds Apple Pie: Caution filling is hot (maybe I could sue if the filling is not hot).

Peter

[Thaiboxer]

Here's another one folks have pulled: Pouring milk on the grocery store floor, then pretending to have slipped and "sprained" their backs or something similar. Seems you can sue for virtually anything these days and for sure the lawyers are loving it!

Also, if a guy breaks into your house and tries to kill you, he may sue you for shooting him in self-defense. Not sure what they would charge you with...perhaps "excessive force". Many folks in the USA say "Shoot to kill" if you ever do reach that point with a bad guy when there are no better alternatives. You and your family will be safe and he won't complain

[PhilHarries]

It's not just the USA, the UK is getting as bad these days. Even the churches aren't safe and are having to lay down the gravestones, many of them hundreds of years old, just in case one day they might fall on somebody. Councils cutting trees down along avenues in case a branch may fall off and hurt someone. Charities unable to run fund raising events because they don't have the qualified staff to do the full safety analysis and, in any case, the insurance premiums are too high threatening to wipe out the money collected.

In my youth if we were running down a footpath and tripped over we just got up, brushed ourselves off and carried on. Nowadays mumsy and dadsy will be there with the lawyer building a case against the council or property owner. I am sure some people, like the milk on the store floor case, go through life looking for a place to have an accident. Of course a back injury, as it is next to impossible to disprove, is the favourite.

Peter991, it has been said (don't know by whom) that common sense is a very rare commodity. I think in ten years it will be all but extinct.

[sbk]

This actually happened...shows how easy it is for somebody to sue you in the States when it was them who should be sued!

Here it goes:

A man bought himself a brand new Winnebago (large motorhome). As he was driving down the highway, he set the cruise control at 70mph (112kph) and decided to head to the kitchen and make himself a cup of coffee. To nobody's surprise, the Winnebago went off the highway and crashed. The man survived and sued the company for $400,000. The reason he was awarded the money: The owner's manual for the Winnebago didn't specify that you couldn't leave the wheel once it was set to cruise control.

Here in Thailand, they would have said "son nam naa" (Serves you right) and laughed at this guy.

Actually, its not a true story.

Snopes.com verifies it as urban legend. www.snopes.com/legal/lawsuits.asp

but hey, if it makes you feel better to think its real, go for it

[Gimbo]

In my youth if we were running down a footpath and tripped over we just got up, brushed ourselves off and carried on. Nowadays mumsy and dadsy will be there with the lawyer building a case against the council or property owner.

I'm sure some have seen this before. I translated it from the Norwegian version.

Think about it...we should be dead!

According to the law makers and beurocrats of today, those of us who grew up in the 40'ies, 50'ies, 60'ies and even the 70'ies should not have survived childhood. Our baby cribs where painted with lead paint. We had no child proof medicine bottles, doors and cupboards, and when riding a bicycle we had no helmets. As children we sat in cars with no seat belts or airbags. And sitting in the back of a pick-up truck a warm summer day was a special joy. We drank water from the garden hose, not from bottles. The Horror!

We ate bread with butter and drank soda with sugar, but we were never overweight becouse we were always out playing. We shared a soda between us and drank from the same bottle, and nobody actually died from it. We spent hours building push carts from scraps and nothing, and sped down the hill, just to learn that we had forgotten brakes. After a couple of crashes we solved that problem.

We left home early in the morning, played all day and were back when the street lights were lit. Nobody could reach us all day. No mobile phones. Unthinkable!

We had no Playstations, Nintendo's or X-Box, no computer games at all, no surround sound, mobile phones home computers or chat rooms in the interent. What we had where friends!

We went outside and found them!

We fell down from trees, cut ourselves on knives, broka a leg or an arm, got a few teeth knocked out, but nobody was sued. They where accidents. Nobody could be blamed but ourselves. Do you remember accidents?

We fought, got a few black eyes and bruises, and learned to overcome it.

We invented games with sticks and balls, and ate earth worms. Despite of warnings, there were not that many eyes that fell out, and the earthworms did not stay inside us forever. We rode our bicycles or walked to eachothers homes, knocked on the door, walked in and had fun.

Some students where not as smart as others, flunked, and had to take that year all over again. Terrible!!

This generations have fostered some of the most risk willing, the best problem solvers and investors in history. The last 50 years has been an explosion of creativity and new ideas. We had freedom, mistakes, success and responsibility and we learned to deal with it all. You are one of them!

[PhilHarries]

Actually, its not a true story.

Snopes.com verifies it as urban legend. www.snopes.com/legal/lawsuits.asp

but hey, if it makes you feel better to think its real, go for it

Spoilsport.

We wuz enjoying that, that's the trouble with the internet it too often spoils a good story with the facts.

[Thaiboxer]

Sorry about that...didn't know it was an urban legend. These funny kinds of things happen all the time in the USA so I wasn't reluctant to believe it to be true.

[sbk]

Next time, I won't shatter your illusions

[Daffy D]

Wasn’t there a case in the UK some years ago where the homeowner who had been burgled several times set up a shotgun to deter further burglaries?

The burglar did come back and was injured by the shotgun. The home owner was convicted of attempted murder and jailed and if that was not bad enough the burglar sued for loss of earnings as he could not go back to his day job.

D.D.

[koheesti]

This actually happened...shows how easy it is for somebody to sue you in the States when it was them who should be sued!

Here it goes:

A man bought himself a brand new Winnebago (large motorhome). As he was driving down the highway, he set the cruise control at 70mph (112kph) and decided to head to the kitchen and make himself a cup of coffee. To nobody's surprise, the Winnebago went off the highway and crashed. The man survived and sued the company for $400,000. The reason he was awarded the money: The owner's manual for the Winnebago didn't specify that you couldn't leave the wheel once it was set to cruise control.

Here in Thailand, they would have said "son nam naa" (Serves you right) and laughed at this guy.

Actually, its not a true story.

Snopes.com verifies it as urban legend. www.snopes.com/legal/lawsuits.asp

but hey, if it makes you feel better to think its real, go for it

Of course it isn't true. Only someone TOTALLY IGNORANT of the American legal system would believe it. They sued for only $400,000? NOBODY sues a company for just six figures these days. Even the old lady who spilled the McDonald's hot coffee on herself was awarded $2 million (I believe the judge lowered it to only $700,000.

For every crazy UNTRUE story like this there are plenty of TRUE stories. What do you expect when the country is run by lawyers (Congressmen and Presidents are usually lawyers). This is why Tort Reform in the US never gets very far. Scum.

Here's a true story. My brother worked for a fast food restaurant (actually, co-owner). An old lady sued for slipping on grease on the floor. Witnesses said it never happened. His company showed that they were the 3rd restaurant that year she had sued for the same thing. The jury still awarded her $10,000. Why? Probably because they are a big company and she is just a poor little old lady.

Edited December 8, 2007 by koheesti

[Martin]

Give some good wishes to today's kids in the West. They'll need them.

They are the generation that will have to re-invent thrift, frugality, and weighing up risks and not whingeing when your luck turns bad.

I am now a great grandfather, and am disgusted at how today's parents and grandparents, in the West, are not helping kids to prepare for what will be their lot. No playing out. No camping out. No exploring the local area on a bike. No earning your own pocket money. The poor little bugggers are pampered, but pressured to pass stupid exams.

It doesn't make me popular in the family; but it is how I feel.

My wife's great grandchildren are being better served, though.

They are part of a generation who come home from school, change, and go out to help their grandparents in the rice fields, on the fish farm, in the veg. gardens, or whatever. (Their parents being away working in Bangkok to send money for them to get education.)

Talk about competence-development. Heck, they can ride a motorbike sensibly at an age when Western kids can only play computer games.

The Future is Asian (and largely Feminine).

[Mosha]

When Virgin Radio first started up in the UK, they used to do a dumb crime of the day spot. This was one of my favourites.

A guy went down to his pigeon loft in N. Ireland to discover it was empty. The lock on the door was broken. He called the police to report the theft of his prize birds. A few hours later he called the police back, all the birds were home. The thieves had got home, put the birds in their loft, and then let them out.

[suegha]

When Virgin Radio first started up in the UK, they used to do a dumb crime of the day spot. This was one of my favourites.

A guy went down to his pigeon loft in N. Ireland to discover it was empty. The lock on the door was broken. He called the police to report the theft of his prize birds. A few hours later he called the police back, all the birds were home. The thieves had got home, put the birds in their loft, and then let them out.

Well if that's true, it's the height of stupidity!

[brahmburgers]

about 15 years ago I heard the OP's story - though then it was a Japanese tourist who had just arrived in L.A. and rented a Winnabego motor home, put it on cruise control and went back to fix a cup of tea. The thing crashed. But I don't recall a lawsuit coming out of it.

In the movie 'Liar, Liar' (Jim Carrey) there's a hilarious part where the lawyer's secretary relates a story of a burglar broke through a skylight in her house, injuring himself and then launched and won a lawsuit for $20,000 against the woman (house owner) for having a hazardous skylight. The lawyer (who magically cannot tell a lie) tells her he would have gotten double that. You have to see it, ...telling it doesn't do justice the gag.

[cm-happy]

Don't they teach Common Sense these days at school? Or does the world have a glut of lawyers who need work? Perhaps that's why we constantly see bizarre instructions on almost every item we buy.

Like on a cup of coffee at McDonalds: Caution drink may be hot (that covers hot and cold and everything in-between), or a McDonalds Apple Pie: Caution filling is hot (maybe I could sue if the filling is not hot).

Peter

Perter--Don't laugh but McDonalds was sued a number of years ago, by some one who burned themselves drinking their super hot coffee. McDonalds lost

[Zpete]

There was a case mannnnnnny years back in England.

These guys at a market were in strife because the TVs they sold would not work.

Seems they had robbed a shop and were downloading the stolen "TVs" at markets for quick quids..

Trouble was the alleged TVs were Microwave ovens.

YES they were Irish.

[billd766]

That was my generation and I loved it. It never seemed to rain during the summer holidays and when I was hungry I went home, ate something and went out to play again.

If you needed a toilet you just knocked on somebodies door and you could use toilet. If you were lost then somebody would take you home after wiping your tears and snotty nose.

I used to go scrumping as all the kids did and if you got caught then you got punished by the owner and if you went home and told your Dad you would get another.

I turned out reasonably well and now at 63 I am doing what I can do here on the wifes farm after being in the Royal Air Forec for 25 years and a couple more careers since then.

My son in UK from my first marriage has also turned out reasonably well and seems to have a fair amount of common sense (he cut up all his credit cards last year) and at 29 is a regional manager for Fiat trucks and vans based in Southampton.

My second son here (3 1/2) in Thailand likes watching Ultraman videos but after a while he goes out and plays around the land and he helps as much as he can but as his age it isn't much. As he gets older he will work for pocket money and learn that if he breaks something Daddy won't always be able to fix it and if it belongs to somebody else he will have to pay for it. I am trying to teach him common sense and respect as well.

Give some good wishes to today's kids in the West. They'll need them.

They are the generation that will have to re-invent thrift, frugality, and weighing up risks and not whingeing when your luck turns bad.

I am now a great grandfather, and am disgusted at how today's parents and grandparents, in the West, are not helping kids to prepare for what will be their lot. No playing out. No camping out. No exploring the local area on a bike. No earning your own pocket money. The poor little bugggers are pampered, but pressured to pass stupid exams.

It doesn't make me popular in the family; but it is how I feel.

My wife's great grandchildren are being better served, though.

They are part of a generation who come home from school, change, and go out to help their grandparents in the rice fields, on the fish farm, in the veg. gardens, or whatever. (Their parents being away working in Bangkok to send money for them to get education.)

Talk about competence-development. Heck, they can ride a motorbike sensibly at an age when Western kids can only play computer games.

The Future is Asian (and largely Feminine).