windward

lizwil - unfair perhaps, and she may be claiming the money from some faceless corporation instead of her mates but still. People are responsible for their own behaviour; should you really have to fret and worry over signage and health and safety concerns to the point of paranoia incase some by some accident of fate you invite a litigious git over to your pool and they come a cropper?

Negligence = suable. Otherwise, if common sense has been applied I don't feel like people should have to put bloody signs up ala 'No bombing, no heavy petting' in their own homes for idiots to read.

Purley

Although I pointed that out - I still think its a disgusting thing to do. In my husband's case it was a real accident. It was in March and water had run down a drainpipe or something at the friend's house and across the driveway at the corner of the house. Really, they should have put the ice melter down or something. My husband was just walking out of the house, which is a perfectly normal thing to do. It was nothing along the lines of what this woman "chose" to do. But we certainly did not turn around and sue the friend.

mandymoochops

ha ha made me smile remembering going swimming and seeing those when I was younger!

Liz I completely agree 100%, in this day and age everything is someone else's fault.

In my life if I f**k up, its my fault. (as an aside if Mr MMC f**ks up thats my fault too how did that happen)

But seriously whilst the majority of people would agree (as I suspect most do on here), there are now so many instances of people being sued, that cases are used as examples and then realigned to suit the current one, and so it will continue.

I will do what I feel is right, I can't change what others do.

PS was joking about Mr MMC!

kazbob

Last summer while visiting a zoo/animal park in NB my daughter took a horse ride which was supervised by staff. You know the kind of thing, just a slow trot round a circuit, nothing speedy.

As she went round the top corner, out of sight, we heard a scream and knew that it was her. She had come off the horse and was really upset saying she hurt. It seems the horse was bothered by a wasp and shook to get it away.

I knew my daughter wasn't seriously hurt, but we had to go and see the big cheese of the park and give all our details. He was 'pooping his pants', showering our kids with gifts. All I could say was 'Hey, it was an accident, don't sweat it'. I don't think he could believe what he was hearing.

This compensation culture does seem to be getting out of hand. I let my kids climb trees, kick footballs/rugby balls/play hockey etc. You can't wrap them up in cotton wool.

Bring back common sense. Just my two penneth worth.

(I should add that I do feel for the woman though).

Karen

Edna Bucket

But to be honest if I suffered an injury that caused me loss of earnings, or God forbid loss of employment, then I would seriously think about it.

Cookie

When you live in a country where you pay for medical care it's within your rights to sue someone else for the costs of treatment where negligence was the cause. People sue for damages in the UK where medical treatment is free, so you can't blame people for suing for medical costs when they have to pay.

My friend in Ontario is a Support Worker in a residential home where 2 young people (20s) are paralysed due to accidents around the swimming pool (alcohol played a part in both cases). Each were awarded huge sums of money (with a reduction made for putting oneself at risk due to alcohol use). Remember though, that money is for their life-long 24-hour care, not for flash cars and exotic holidays.

In these cases, neither of them had children but you can imagine the economic impact on a household where one parent was unable ever to work again.

Kazbob, I am glad your daughter was okay but what if she was injured - a broken bone or suffered a head injury, is off school for weeks/months, requires physio etc, mum or dad had to take unpaid leave from work to look after them .............. see what I am getting at?

Purley

Oh for sure, it must cost an absolute fortune and affect the lives of the injured party's family to no end.

However, that being said, you have a pool or whatever - people accept your hospitality to come and have fun. If they then choose a certain behaviour which results in their being injured - do then have the right to sue you? What happens if this person wins the law suit and is awarded (say) $10 million dollars? What happens then? They register an encumbrance on your house and you end up bankrupt with no house! Is that fair? Very few people would have $10 million in liability insurance.

Everyone knows that the money is for the future care, but I cannot see that it is the financial responsibility of the person who owned the pool. Any sensible person would know that its risky to dive into a pool or shallow water. It was not a hidden or unknown danger.

If someone came into your house and you told them to go out of a door on the second floor that had a drop to the ground - and you were fooling around and the person became paralysed in that situation - then sure - you were being stupid and its your fault and you have to pay.

But this was an unforeseen accident, pure and simple, in my opinion and the only person who was at fault was the person who is paralysed for choosing to leap to catch a ball.

mandymoochops

But thats why you have insurance! I've probably got far too much for Mr MMC and I but you can never be too careful.

Alberta_Rose

I googled this lady to see if there were any more stories about her accident.

I found this: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarp...3-a6c6e841dc74

This quote from that article particularly set my teeth on edge. Since her injury ******* has become a firm believer in "being kind and respectful of each other and seeing the positive and potential in people and yourself."

It seems that this lady is busy trying to fund all sorts of round the world trips in search of "treatment" for her paralysed muscles. I expect that's what the law-sauits are mostly about.

Edna Bucket

But if/when you claim off your insurance company, they will want to be reimbursed by the insurance company of the person who caused the accident

mandymoochops

I don't know how it works but the way I see it is that I pay insurance to protect me and my family against unforseen circumstances. If I were just going to sue people willy nilly then I wouldn't need to pay it would I.

Normal insurance covers you for most genuine accidents, not for being a tit. Now I suppose a whole can of worms has been opened about - well whats the difference between suing and claiming from your insurance blah blah blah.

To me there is so there!

Edna Bucket

Exactly. If you have a serious enough injury that is going to cause you to claim for loss of earnings or a loss of employment, the insurance company is going to send you some hefty forms to fill in about how it all happened. If it was a genuine accident so be it, but if not, once they realise that there may have been some negligence by another person they are not just going to send you a bundle of cash and forget about it.

People also take out insurance so that if someone tries to claim off them for negligence they aren't left homeless and bankrupt when they are ordered to pay millions of dollars in compensation.

mandymoochops

Yes I know its the public liabilty ins.

But it blurs into a very grey area whereby suing due to personal idiocy and claiming from insurance starts and ends.

I think most people would agree that the woman who sued McD's for burning her mouth on an apple pie was just a gold-digger.

However this lady with the pool accident thing - you can claim on normal personal injury insurance etc for those sorts of accidents (and get your mortgage paid cause you can't work and lots of other stuff that wouldn't make her life too shabby), it just escalates when the normal claim goes into the hands of "personal injury" lawyers etc apportioning blame then it goes mad!

AmyDavid

Thanks for making coke (of the drinking variety) :come out of my nose!

mandymoochops

YMTW