it won't even go to trial - the cruise line will settle.
did you see the case of the woman who won a big settlement from Winnebago because they did not tell her the cruise control was not an auto-pilot, and she left the drivers seat to go make herself a sandwich while the motor home crashed?
if she can win that case, this case against the cruise line has merit. not for $100M, but for something.
PLEEEZEE tell me you are kidding about the Winnebago case! How can we possibly moron-proof everything?????
Everything you read in an email is true.
Link please
I don't remember if it was Dr Walter Williams or Dr Thomas Sowell, but one of them wrote about this, and later found that it's actually an urban legend, debunked on Snopes.
Still, it's just dumb enough to be true, os it's easy to believe.
Mark
I call Urban Myth. I have been hearing various versions of that 'cruise-control' story for over a decade at least, probably more.
In 1994, a New Mexico jury awarded $ 2.9 million U.S. in damages to
81-year-old Stella Liebeck who suffered third-degree burns to her legs,
groin and buttocks after spilling a cup of McDonald's coffee on herself.
This case inspired an annual award - The "Stella" Award - for the most
ludicrous lawsuit.
1. January 2000: Kathleen Robertson of Austin Texas was awarded $780,000 by a jury of her peers after breaking her ankle tripping over a toddler who was
running inside a furniture store. The owners of the store were understandably surprised at the verdict, considering the misbehaving little -&#@*!!!- was Ms. Robertson's son.
2. June 1998: A 19 year old Carl Truman of Los Angeles won $74,000 and
medical expenses when his neighbor ran over his hand with a Honda
Accord. Mr. Truman apparently didn't notice there was someone at the wheel of
the car, when he was trying to steal his neighbor's hubcaps.
3. October 1998: A Terrence Dickson of Bristol, Pennsylvania was leaving a house he had just finished robbing by way of the garage. He was not able to get the garage door to go up since the automatic door opener was malfunctioning. He couldn't re-enter the house because the door connecting the house and garage locked when he pulled it shut. The family was on vacation. Mr. Dickson found himself locked in the garage for eight days. He subsisted on a case of Pepsi he found, and a large bag of dry dog food. He sued the homeowner's insurance claiming the situation caused him undue mental anguish. The jury agreed to the tune of half a million dollars.
4. October 1999: Jerry Williams of Little Rock, Arkansas was awarded $14,500
and medical expenses after being bitten on the buttocks by his next door neighbor's beagle. The beagle was on a chain in its owner's fenced-in yard. The award was less than sought because the jury felt the dog might have been just a little provoked at the time by Mr. Williams who was shooting it repeatedly with a pellet gun.
5. May 2000: A Philadelphia restaurant was ordered to pay Amber Carson of Lancaster, Pennsylvania $113,500 after she slipped on a soft drink and broke
her coccyx. The beverage was on the floor because Ms. Carson threw it at her
boyfriend 30 seconds earlier during an argument.
6. December 1997: Kara Walton of Claymont, Delaware successfully sued the
owner of a night club in a neighboring city when she fell from the bathroom window to the floor and knocked out her two front teeth. This occurred while Ms Walton was trying to sneak through the window in the ladies room to avoid paying the $3.50 cover charge. She was awarded $12,000 and dental expenses.
7. Mr. Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City. In November 2000 Mr. Grazinski
purchased a brand new 32-foot Winnebago motor home. On his first trip home, having joined the freeway, he set the cruise control at 70 mph and calmly left the driver's seat to go into the back and make himself a cup of coffee.
Not surprisingly the Winnie left the freeway, crashed and overturned. Mr
Grazinski sued Winnebago for not advising him in the handbook that he
couldn't actually do this. He was awarded $1,750,000 plus a new Winnie.
(Winniebago actually changed their handbooks on the back of this court
case, just in case there are any other complete morons buying their vehicles.)