teen falls down manhole in NYC

[bilgerat]

Mom's genius shines through on this quote from the article:

The family said they will file a lawsuit -- for what, though, is not immediately clear. Her mother, Kim Longueira, said it doesn't matter that her daughter was walking and texting, and also, the 'gross' factor that can't be ignored.

"Oh my God, it was putrid," she said. "One of her sneakers is still down there"

Well duhhhh, I guess it is putrid. It's a sewer, stupid

[done]

The workers were in the process of putting cones around the sight.

If this is true, then they were negligent. Their process is to put up the cones 1st, then open the hole.

yeah, I definitely saw that. Anytime someone opens a hole it should be marked with cones, or something. It just seems like she was a victim of bad timing and inattention.

What really got me was why would you sue? Maybe, maybe tell the city to pay for a new shoe. At the least I could see them saying the city should have marked it with a cone, we lost a shoe, replace the pair. However, Beyond laundry and a lost shoe it does not appear any damage was done.  So I do not see a need to sue anyone over it.

Seems to be a waste of time and money to try.

[J Francho]

Yep, I asked my brother in law about it - he works for the local town highway dept. If she didn't get hurt, there's no grounds for anything. you can't get any "pain and suffering" or "mental anguish" since there was no injury. Had she been injured, a lawsuit is almost automatic, but doesn't commence until she was recovered. It makes no sense to sue for medical if you haven't fully realized medical costs. No injury, nothing to recover. I'm not a lawyer, but I have been involved with a lengthy injury lawsuit. In this case, I think it was just the mother's anger and fear talking. Imagine your kid fell down a manhole. You tend to speak in hyperbole when something involves your kids.

[tyrius.]

Yes, in order to prevent her from becoming a sue-happy idiot mother as well.

So you make all the same mistakes that your parents made?   :

My original, hyperbolically stated point above is that the average person on the street doesn't responsibility for anything. Instead of saying, "Oops, I'm an idiot, how embarrassing," It's, "Oops - you just caused me to sue you."

And if that had happened, do you think that ANYONE would even know about it (except for the worker and the girl)?  How many times does someone trip and fall and just continue on?  I'd say that the second question is far and away the average.

[J Francho]

I think the word "hyperbole" was use more than twice in this thread, LOL.  That'll get it locked down fo-sho!  

[Siebert Outdoors]

I would think this would fall under "pay attention Mr. Obvious"  but I also would be so embarresed if I did something like that to sue. LOL.

[ptomacbass]

It was the girls fault.  If something like that happened to me, I would just start laughing at myself for falling in the man hole and just leave.  I can't beleive her parents would sue for something that was their daughters fault :-/.

[J Francho]

Going back and rereading the story, I see the girl did suffer a loss.  The city owes her a left sneaker  ;D

[Tokyo Tony]

Yes, in order to prevent her from becoming a sue-happy idiot mother as well.

So you make all the same mistakes that your parents made? :

My original, hyperbolically stated point above is that the average person on the street doesn't responsibility for anything. Instead of saying, "Oops, I'm an idiot, how embarrassing," It's, "Oops - you just caused me to sue you."

And if that had happened, do you think that ANYONE would even know about it (except for the worker and the girl)? How many times does someone trip and fall and just continue on? I'd say that the second question is far and away the average.

You're right - I only make some of the same mistakes. I now officially change my stance to: in the unlikely event of a lawsuit, the city should replace the pair of shoes, give her a couple bucks for a bar of soap, and recommend that she not procreate ;-)

As for your second comment, I'm not just talking about tripping and falling. I'm saying in this situation, I think the first thing that would occur to the average Joe, after recovering from the shock, would be a lawsuit. Of course I think most lawyers would recommend against such a lawsuit, so few if any would go forward, but a lawsuit would probably occur to most people. That would not have been the case 30 years ago, in my opinion.

[done]

Good point Tokyo Tony. I will tell you why they sue though.

Not too long ago I was working at a company. We had an employee who had worked for us for 5+ years. Each department they went to, the turnover rates went through the roof, the department became dysfunctional, and every exit interview pointed to 1 person. After 5 years we fired the individual.

The sued for sex discrimation PLUS for a company owned laptop that they said they owned since the original company one issued to them broke and they had to argue (during company time) with the manufacturer to get them to replace it under warranty.

This persons attorney deposed our CEO, CTO, CFO, and 4 VPs repeatedly over a 6 week period to the point that our company could not function any longer and it began to endanger our company altogether. They paid a settlement of more than $10k, to just end it. It cost us far more to continue to fight and prove we were right, than it did to just throw a chunk of cash at them and be done with it.

[Tokyo Tony]

M Starr - that's just one example on an endless list of examples showing why lawyers are ruining (have ruined?) the country.

No offense to any lawyers on here, unless you happen to be one of the majority who is at fault.