Posted on 08/16/2002 8:38:13 PM PDT by ijcr
A burglar is suing a householder who chased him, caught him and held him by the scruff of the neck until police came.
Anthony McCoy, 31, a repeat offender who was sentenced to two years in prison last month for burgling the £300,000 home on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, claims that he was assaulted by Len Johnson, 37, who caught him after a half-mile chase.
Mr Johnson vowed yesterday that, even if McCoy's prosecution was successful, he would go to prison himself rather than pay a penny in compensation.
The case, the subject of an initial hearing in Sittingbourne next Tuesday, arose out of an incident last November when Mr Johnson and his wife Jackie, 35, drove home after dropping off their 11-year-old son at his judo class.
As they entered the drive of their three-bedroom, detached home, they saw McCoy staring at them from a bedroom window.
"As we got out of the car, two men ran out of the back door, so I chased after them," said Mr Johnson, a self-employed carpenter.
"I ran behind them for about half a mile, over the top of the cliffs, and caught one of them. He couldn't run any more and he just collapsed into a ball because he thought I was going to hit him.
"But all I did was drag him by the coat and march him back to the road. He said to the police I had assaulted him.
"He created such a fuss a doctor examined him when he was taken into custody and all he found was a red mark on his neck. It's outrageous that this has ended up in court.
"All I was doing was protecting my family and our home. I did everything by the book."
Now, now.
A jerk bringing a lawsuit doesn't mean they're imploding.
Now if the jerk wins, it's another story...
My bet: He'll win. They're imploding.
STELLA AWARDS:The "Stella" Awards rank up there with the Darwin awards. Stella Liebeck is the 81 year old lady who spilled coffee on herself and sued McDonald's. This case inspired an annual award for the most frivolous lawsuit in the U.S.
The following are this year's candidates:
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 bastard was Ms.Robertson's son.
2. June 1998: 19 year old Carl Truman of Los Angeles won $74,000 and medical expenses when his neighbour 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 neighbour's hubcaps.
3. October 1998: 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 neighbour's beagle. The beagle was on a chain in a fenced-in yard. The award was less than the amount sought, because the jury felt the dog might have been 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 neighbouring 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. And the winner is: Mr. Merv Grazinski of Oklahoma City. In November 2000, Mr. Grazinski purchased a brand new 32 foot Winnebago motor home. On his first trip on 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. (Winnebago actually changed their handbooks because of this court case, just in case there are any other complete morons buying their vehicles.)
On a side note, what are wages like in England nowadays?
Mr Johnson, a "self employed carpenter" can live in a home valued at $450,000?
With their taxes?
Must be a GREAT union.
Win at all costs, the rule of law is dead
Isa 59:14 And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.
15 Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.
AHA, the argument for guns and German Shepherds continues. Had this been my house, said burglars would have never made it in, let alone make it out alive. This maggot feces will probably end up with some $$$ from this poor homeowners insurance. We have only liberals to thank!
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