Posted on 08/28/2002 11:35:39 AM PDT by weekendwarrior
Register-Herald Editorial 8/27/02
The death of Rebecca Allen of Fairlea was tragic, but the circumstances do not warrant a lawsuit filed by her widowed husband, Brian Allen.
That was the ruling of Greenbrier County Circuit Judge James Rowe in a suit Brian Allen filed against Purdue Pharma L.P. of Connecticut, as well as several other companies.
The target of the suit was the drug OxyContin, which generally is administered in time-release capsule form. Rebecca Allen broke open the capsules, crushed them and injected them into her veins.
The judge ruled that Rebecca Allen died at age 41 because she and her husband "willfully and purposely ignored and circumvented all safety measures" the drug manufacturer specified.
In dismissing the case, Rowe has taken a step refreshingly rare in a society that awards multimillion-dollar damages to people who don't use common sense - such as someone spilling hot coffee on their lap pulling out of a drive-thru window.
The bottom line is that people often don't appear to understand that they are responsible for their own actions, that the consequences fall on them, not on a third party's pocketbook.
Scripps Howard News Service notes that - perhaps on the theory that it's never too early to plan a lawsuit - a Web site, Sue-It.com, has been established to sue the makers of the Segway Human Transporter, a supposedly "untippable" scooter which is not yet on the market. (It's due to go on sale next year.)
See full article: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=5164648&BRD=2086&PAG=461&dept_id=348406&rfi=8
(Excerpt) Read more at zwire.com ...
Thank you, Trial Lawyers. Thank you so very much.
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