William Strange, left, talks to the media with his mother-in-law Nina Hilst, right, after a jury awarded his family $16.57 million as a result of his wife's death in a radio station contest.
Posted on 10/29/2009 5:56:19 PM PDT by JoeProBono
A Sacramento Superior Court jury today awarded the survivors of Jennifer Lea Strange $16,577,118 as a result of her death nearly three years ago in a water-drinking contest conducted by a local radio station. In making the award, the seven-man, five-woman panel voted unanimously to find that Entercom Sacramento LLC, the local subsidiary of Entercom Communications Corp. of Philadelphia was negligent in putting on the contest that ultimately resulted in Strange's death.......
Strange, 28, died Jan. 12, 2007, after participating in what KDND "The End" 107.9 promoted as its "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" contest that promised the popular Nintendo video game to whomever could drink the most water without urinating or vomiting.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
William Strange, left, talks to the media with his mother-in-law Nina Hilst, right, after a jury awarded his family $16.57 million as a result of his wife's death in a radio station contest.
“Sir, why did you marry a woman who would have even thought for one second to enter such a contest?”
His wife acted stupidly just to receive a stupid Wii, and he wins the lottery? Ain’t America great!
Oops. A bit of redundancy there....
Tacky comment on your part. The average non-endurance athlete wouldn’t know water in large quantities is dangerous. The station is to blame, not the victim. (Not saying I agree with the amount of damages)
The family shouldn’t have been rewarded anything. Everyone involved in this were idiots, and just because one of them died doesn’t mean their family deserves something for it.
I was curious about cause of death (it’s at the bottom of the article). I believe the medical term is hyperhydrosis? Always struck me as such an odd thing to cause us walking water bottles harm.
Either way, thankfully the jury found in favor of the husband and kids. Horrid situation, and not very many people know that drowning yourself is harmful to your health.
I’m not an athlete and I knew long ago that too much water could kill you. It’s also not the station’s fault anymore than it was the fault of the woman who died. Maybe people shouldn’t put all their trust in a couple of radio host/comedians. Everyone involved was ignorant, and no one should be awarded 16 million dollars because of that.
...........strange
Just going to make greedy plaintiff lawyers more greedy.
That’s a pisser.
IIRC, she was drinking distilled water, which is dangerous when drinking too much, because there are no minerals in it.
What exactly happens in your body with water intoxication? Anybody know?
Water intoxication (also known as hyper-hydration or water poisoning) is a potentially fatal disturbance in brain functions that results when the normal balance of electrolytes in the body is pushed outside of safe limits by over-consumption of water.[1] Normal, healthy (both physically and nutritionally) individuals have little reason to worry about accidentally consuming too much water. Nearly all deaths related to water intoxication in normal individuals have resulted either from water drinking contests, in which individuals attempt to consume high amounts of water, or long bouts of intensive exercise during which electrolytes are not properly replenished, yet excessive amounts of fluid are still consumed.[2]
And what happens when the electrolytes are off balance?
Oops. A bit of redundancy there....
*****************************
Not to worry.
Stupid is as stupid does.
;-)
One dies.
One dies.
When will the terror end?
Sodium and potassium shifts in cells cause them to do their jobs. Too much water causes those levels to drop. Then the cells do not get the signal to function. At some point, the heart goes into v-fib.
Got it - thanks.
Coming soon: Warning lables on water bottles.
I wouldn’t have given them a dime if I had been on the jury. She was a grown woman and made the call herself.
The second post, and you nailed it perfectly! I cannot add without detracting...bravo!
Are you kidding? Most everyone knows drowning is bad.
You die twice?
Let me make a prediction here: This verdict will be overturned.
Figure of speech. Drinking too much water like this technically drowns your brain.
You Only Live Twice (1967-Sean Connery) - James Bond
I think you are being harsh. No need to blame the victim. I doubt the average person knows how dangerous it could be. Obviously the average station manager and radio announcer didn’t know.
Agreed. The radio hosts should be doing hard prison time, especially given that a nurse called in during the contest to warn them about how dangerous this was, and they didn’t pass on the warning to the woman who died much less stop the stupid contest. But there’s no cause for a pay-out beyond what medical expenses were involved in the failed attempt to save her life.
Great, another posting where libertarians get to bash people who get caught acting, you know human.
However - after the lawyer takes 50-60% and the IRS takes it's %-age of the entire amount (they won't allow legal fees as a deduction) he'll be lucky not to end up owing the IRS add'l.
It happens frequently.
So if they hold the station liable for creating such a hazardous thing as a contest which would encourage stupid people to do things that could potentially be hazardous to their well being.....well then what about Congress? Aren’t they about to do the exact same thing to the American people?
I have never met a woman who would voluntarily put themselves through this. Being asked to drink a ton of water, I can see they might. But not be allowed to PEE? That is what is unfathomable about this. Most women are two hours in the car, tops before you have to stop.
Hyponatremia (low sodium). The lethal effect is cerebral edema (brain swelling). Lot's of bad things occur in a chain of events with progressing cerebral edema. Interestingly premenopausal women are the most suceptible group.
P.S. Some lawyer just got an $8 million pay day.
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