Posted on 06/16/2018 2:53:51 PM PDT by Morgana
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Two parents may be stuck with a $132,000 bill after their child damaged a sculpture inside the Tomahawk Ridge Community Center in Overland Park, Kansas.
The child’s mother, Sarah Goodman, said the incident happened during a wedding reception last month.
Surveillance video shows the child hug the sculpture, then seconds later, it fell.
“We heard a bunch of commotion and I thought, 'Whose yelling at my son?'” Goodman explained. “This glass mosaic torso is laying on the ground and someone is following me around demanding my personal information.”
(Excerpt) Read more at wmar2news.com ...
I gotta ask here that if the thing was actually worth 132000 dollars why on earth could a little kid get any where near it?
You break it, you bought it.
If this child had been injured, there would be an entirely different conversation. No way something with that value should have been out in the open and not secured to its base, etc.
I happened to see this today regarding the sculpture that was damage at the Overland Park Tomahawk Ridge community center. Sad that the incident happened. But even more sad is the Insurance carrier going after the parents of the kids. While not an attorney my view is that the attractive nuisance created by the sculpture should have been known by the City of Overland Park when they put it on display at the community center. Overland Park evidently knew there was a risk and was required to insurance the art work that was on loan.
No Gallery would ever put unsecured artwork in a public area without it being secured to its base. Additionally Overland Park should have had security on duty that evening to make sure their were no incidents at the center or in the gallery area. I am sure that some good attorney will help the Goodman’s get this resolved.
I would bet they could establish a go fund me page and Overland Park residents would come to the aid of the Goodmans.
For the record I am resident of Overland Park, Kansas. I know the center well.
I’ve seen candy protected better than “priceless artwork”
They hope somebody like me isn’t on the jury, I’d vote a single dollar in damages.
Actually I DID glue my 5 year old to my hip or that of a responsible adult. And I was never where such an expensive item was.
Parenthood is about vigilance.
Correct it created an attractive nuisance.
I searched this title and nothing came up
again..I searched this title and nothing came up. Leave it to me to use a different source
Not the first time that's happened:
First, the $132,000 value will have to be properly assessed and I'm guessing that the reported value is grossly exaggerated.
Second, Kansas is a contributory negligence state, so the negligence of others including the plaintiff has to be considered and reduces any amount that the plaintiff can claim. Any competent attorney will make whoever didn't secure that statue seem to be the biggest moron who ever lived. The attorney should be able to convince a jury that the city was grossly negligent in not securing the statue. I'm not an attorney but typically any plaintiff who acted with gross negligence is precluded from suing others.
A jury will likely have parents who understand how easy it is to momentarily lose track of a 5 y.o. in social event like a wedding reception. Even great parents have done so and things can happen quickly. I'm guessing that experienced parents realize how easy this can occur and will reduce the Goodman's negligence share dramatically.
The quality of newspaper articles have plunged since the creation of the internet.
And English wasn’t my favorite class in school but I could diagram a sentence and my spelling, well, I passed.
Where is the new William Safire?
His “On Language” column appeared in the Sunday paper edition and was an easy laugh every Sunday.
I guessed proper English grammar must be racist, sexist or homophobic or some such nonsense.
I’m skeptical.
What if they set up this ‘art work’ in a tenuous manner, betting (insurance) that it would be damaged.
Only way to ‘cash in’ on it. Worthless in a gallery.
If so, perhaps the “deep pocket supporters” in the area have paid for this “art” out of their own piggy banks!
Otherwise, the tax authorities can damn well repay the taxpayers, instead of constantly crying about how Trump and conservative GOP leaders “should quit starving the public of (so-called) art!”
Give us our tax dollars back!
Should be a definitely, not a maybe.
Not roped off, not enclosed in a case, no warning sign, not properly secured, etc.
Venue is lucky it didn’t fall on the kid. If I was a parent, I’d tell the other party’s insurance adjuster to pound sand.
I am not an attorney, either. But I have been made aware of the attractive nuisance doctrine, and to my untrained brain it seems it might apply.
“Actually I DID glue my 5 year old to my hip or that of a responsible adult. Parenthood is about vigilance.”
And THAT is exactly inspired Pink Floyd to write “the Wall”.
“You break it, you bought it.”
That’s got about the same legal basis as “Flintstone you’re fired”.
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