Posted on 11/16/2009 1:05:29 PM PST by TruthHound
It's natural to sympathize with the parents of Brandon Patch, the 18-year-old baseball pitcher who died after he was hit by a batted ball in 2003.
Sooner or later, sympathy must yield to logic and reason, so when Brandon's parents sued the bat's manufacturer, Louisville Slugger, and a jury awarded them $850,000, they contributed to the terribly misguided notion that behind every tragedy lies a lawsuit.
I haven't suffered what the Patches have suffered, and I pray that I never do. I understand that pursuing litigation gives them a sense that their son's random, pointless death was not so pointless.
However, the idiocy demonstrated by a Helena, Mont., jury won't bring back Brandon Patch, won't prevent similar accidents in the future, but will lead to more decisions based primarily on lawsuit avoidance rather than common sense...
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
“Warning: Kid, this hurts when you get hit in the head with it. Don’t do it!”
I like the "Do not use in bathtub" warning on my wife's hairdryer.
Wouldn't the need for warnings like these eventually become irrelevant as people dumb enough to require them, eliminated themselves from the gene pool?
WARNING: Do not use this Microwave Oven to dry your hair.
Actually, metal bats are more dangerous. There's a reason they are banned above the amateur level.
No, I don't think this lawsuit is justified. But I do have a problem with idiots turning a classical American outdoor game into a real-life version of a video game. Juiced up bats, balls and players all need to be banned.
What’s worse, this kind of venal gesture disgraces the memory of the dead. And it is logically, legally, and morally unsupportable.
What kind of a jury in its right mind could find a causal connection between the manufacturer of the bat and the kid’s death? And if that connection exists, what other specious connections can be made?
This should be appealed and reversed.
Correct.
We'll see what the MT sUPREMES decide on this.
There are some awful justices - like Leaphart - on the MT SC. Let us all hope this horrendious decision is overturned so it is not forced to be appealed to the (yuck) Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
My straightening iron came with the warning “Do not use this product while sleeping”.
It is tragic that the boy died, but millions of kids play baseball, with metal bats, and such accidents are very rare. They can happen with wooden bats as well. Sometimes a tragedy is nobody's fault.
I think the author makes a great point that it is highly unlikely that a warning label would have prevented the league from using metal bats, or the parents from allowing their son to play in a league with metal bats.
The over saturation of warning labels is actually a danger, IMO. Because we see so many ridiculous, unnecessary warning labels on so many products, we are more likely to ignore the critical warnings along with the frivolous ones.
I'm sure one day, someone will sue on the grounds that a manufacturer put too many warning labels on a product, causing the user to miss the warning of a true danger. Actually, I wonder if this has happened already.
"hmmmmmm......"WARNING.....Failure... to..remove... this... sunshade...may....re- re- (what's that word???) RESULT!...in....a...." CRASH!
Found a box of Tampax Tampons:
Remove used tampon before inserting a new one.
The reflective screen I put in my windshield when parked is labelled “Do not drive with screen in place.”
The protocol in question is for an intraosseous IV.
Wonder if someone will have to be killed before something is done about all the broken bats in MLB. Some of those slivers of wood are like daggers flying around the infield.
Why don’t they just go ahead and put the following on everything ....
“Warning: You’re too stupid to use this product. Put it down and back away, or use at your own risk.”
Pathetic for these parents to put a price on their boy’s life. Now the parents can party.
Meant to ping you to post #15.
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