Posted on 02/09/2007 8:13:36 AM PST by Graybeard58
Things were pretty tense in November 2005 at King High School in Tampa. The month was marked with numerous brawls and culminated with a fatal, after-school, gang-related shooting across the street in the McDonald's parking lot.
School officials and police belatedly beefed up security at the school and in the neighborhood. But they moved too late for the victim and the three other teens who were wounded by the shooter, who last week pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
The shootings, naturally, have spawned a lawsuit from one of the wounded, Alexander McKinnie, against ... the police? Don't be silly. The school? Surely you jest. No, he's suing McDonald's for being a bad host and failing to protect him from "reasonably foreseeable criminal acts by third parties," said Mr. McKinnie's lawyer. Even if McDonald's officials had envisioned a premeditated, gang-related shooting in their parking lot, what "reasonable steps" should they have taken to prevent it? The lawsuit, as usual, is silent on that issue.
Still, the trial bar "seeks justice" from McDonald's for injuries inflicted by marauding gangs that even police can't control. Why McDonald's? Not because it's really liable, but because it's a multinational corporation that had more than $3.5 billion in net income last year, making its pockets much deeper than those of the shooter or any other possible defendant.
Ping to a Republican-American Editorial.
If you want on or off this ping list, let me know.
Of course had McDonalds run gang-bangers off, they would have been sued for violating their "civil rights", probably by the same lawyers.
Well, that's the way our leaders have set up the system. I'm not holding my breath waiting for the lawyers in Congress to put the lawyers at large out of business.
"probably by the same lawyers."........................The oldie.......diff tween a whore and lawyer....NONE! Pay'em and they adopt the position you want?...Yeh, I know REAL oldie.
And as soon as McDonald's closes restaurants in what they perceive to be dangerous places they will be sued for discrimination against certain people and areas. They can't win, but the lawyers sure will!
It is stories like this that have pushed me into my current career path. I am in my 30's, financially secure, and I am going back to school so that I can become a lawyer.
Why am I doing it? Because someone has to be willing to stand up to idiots like this and fight them in court. I may have some sort of Don Quixote thing going on but I just can't take it anymore. This type of crap has to stop.
Every time I start thinking about how much it sucks to be up at midnight doing schoolwork when I have to be up for work a 0530 I see something like this and it strengthens my resolve.
"Loser pays" tort reform would fix this kind of situation overnight.
Good luck to you. We need some decent lawyers to fight this sort of thing.
The sooner we finish destroying this nation the sooner those who survive can roll up their sleeves and start rebuilding her.
Florida has what are called "deep pockets" laws. IOW, it allows defendants to be held liable for more than their fair share in lawsuits simply because they have deep pockets.
I recall a case many years ago, a driver (careless or drunk, I don't remember) ran onto the sidewalk and creamed a man standing in a phone booth. In addition to suing the driver, he sued the phone company because he was standing in their booth when hit. Of the total award to the injured man, the phone company had to pay something like 90%. Not because they were 90% at fault, but because the driver wouldn't be able to pay an award of several million and since they had more money they could.
I kid you not.
Read item number two in this document:
http://www.instituteforlegalreform.com/harris/pdf/FL_Fast_Facts.pdf
The notion of "joint and several" liability, which leads to this kind of crap, was put into place precisely because it allows the deepest pockets to be looted, thereby guaranteeing the largest fee for the lawyer involved.
dI am sick, sick, sick that these sociopaths are permitted to file such lawsuits.
I thought JaSL has been discarded by most jurisdictions (aside from things like concerted negligent enterprises, etc) and replaced by the more fair comparative negligence system.
Could be. I'm not a lawyer. I work for a living.
lol
Or it was put in place to ensure that an injured victim is compensated for his injuries by a tortfeasor. Either one.
Wouldn't it be great if McDonald's lost this suit and then armed their employees with machine guns, like the Israelis do with their school employees?
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