Exhibit B: The System Doesn't Work - Boo!

dmc27 · 11-01-2007, 01:21 PM

This one just pisses me off. Basically, a few jackasses made a stupid decision that lead to 100 deaths, many injuries, and even more damaged families and friends.

But the legal system setup has lead to several corporations paying settlements for the stupidity of a few d-bags - simply because the companies sold +/- manufactured material that was improperly utilized.

Obviously, simply b/c it will likely cost less to settle, but that doesn't make it right.

In the meantime, the only person who manned up and took responsibilty for his actions got the MOST severe sentence. The other a-holes involved ended up with slap on the wrist decisions.

Article in question. The subject is the Station Nightclub Fire here in RI in 2003 - just as a warning for those who may not want to read (or relive) a tragic event.

grrrrrr.

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lone_wolf025 · 11-01-2007, 09:02 PM

These days the system rarely if ever works. Its always who can pay for a really good lawyer, and the one honest person who does the right thing shoulders all the blame.

rotarygod · 11-01-2007, 10:09 PM

I don't agree that Home Depot or Polar Industries should hold any responsibility. What's next? Is someone going to sue their car dealership if a loved one dies in a car accident? Hey they sold them the car!

Is someone going to sue a hardwood floor company because their house burned down after the floor caught on fire due to someone in the house holding a flame to it? Do you sue the makers of the lumber the house is built with because wood is flammable? Do you then sell Home Depot because you bought the lumber from there?

An alarm company and a real estate firm that leased the property to the owners had to settle too? The company that made the pyrotechnics and a vendor who sold them were also sued? That's just wrong! I understand tragedy but that is furthering the tragedy by laying it on innocent people.

I don't agree with lawsuits like this at all. They are frivilous. Ultimately the blame should lie with the person who made the call that pyrotechnics should be used at this venue and that's the person who was in charge of them at the show. Fault is not with a vendor, a retailer, a realtor, or a manufacturer. It's with the person that made the call to do this. If their job is to set this up, it is also to make the call whether or not it is safe to do within the space provided if at all. That's it.

This type of settlement as well as other actions in this country have me convinced that the average public is pretty dumb and that the world as a whole is doomed. It leaves anyone open to being sued for anything whether they had a part in it or not. That's scary.

dmc27 · 11-02-2007, 11:47 AM

^ exactly.

Even though it's not technically a 'precedent' since it's not b/c of a ruling - it's still a terrible precedent. At this point it's just so lucrative to file a suit and hope for a settlement regardless of how ridiculous it is. Even what appears to be a no-brainer, totally frivolous lawsuit can net a nice payout simply b/c it's cheaper for a big company to pay a "little" now instead of incurring the cost of a long case.

dmc27 · 05-12-2008, 03:01 PM

Bump for another $30 million in the money grab.

An incredibly bizarre coincidence in this particular one: a news crew filming about fires at nightclubs the night this fire happened. that'll cost 30 mil.

link to article. (This one is from February)

I just heard it's another $30 million from the company that manuf'd the foam (the settlement offer has been offered, not yet accepted.) That would put the total for companies that were guilty nothing more than selling their products to d-bags who proceeded to misuse them at nearly $100 million.

xsnipersgox · 05-12-2008, 03:07 PM

this would only fall through if the material was sold as "fireproof", but we all know how US law system works.

seriously, cases such as This container contains hot liquid labling on hot coffee from mcdonold should tell us that our law system is wacked.

if this was the case, i should go and sue the local supermarket and be like, i was not informed i need to cook this raw chicken meat before i eat it!