Who to sue?

Here's another ludicrious Stella Award:
The tragic 20 February 2003 fire at the Station Nightclub in West
Warwick, R.I., killed 96 people and injured more than 200. It was a
stupid stunt: the band playing that night set off fireworks, setting fire
to soundproofing foam. With the nightclub's insurance maxed out and no
one else to turn to for the expected $1 billion of liability, lawyers in
the case sued anyone they could think of in their search for deep pockets
to pick. One unlikely victim of the tactic was Clear Channel
Communications, which owns a radio station in the area, on the basis that
they helped promote the event. In February, Clear Channel announced a
tentative $22 million settlement with survivors and the families of those
killed. Rhode Island's "joint and several liability" put Clear Channel on
the hook; as long as lawyers could show just the tiniest involvement by
the company, it ended up having to pay even though they had no part in
the fire.

Other deep pockets included TV station WPRI, which was ironically on
the scene to do a story on the dangers of nightclubs when the fire broke
out, which paid $30 million on the theory that their cameraman's
equipment blocked an exit. JBL Speakers paid $815,000 to settle a charge
that its speakers had flammable foam in them; beer maker Anheuser-Busch
($5 million) and its local distributor ($16 million) because their beer
was sold at the nightclub; Sealed Air Corp. paid $16 million, since its
foam was used for soundproofing, even though the foam was not rated for
such a purpose; the State of Rhode Island, $10 million, and the city
where the fire occurred, $10 million, for who-knows-what reason; and Home
Depot (amount unknown), where the foam was purchased. There were also
criminal charges in the case; the band's manager and the nightclub's
owners pleaded guilty and no-contest, respectively, to manslaughter
charges.

SOURCES:

1) "Clear Channel, Fire Victims OK $22M Deal", Associated Press, 14
February 2008
http://StellaAwards.com/cgi-bin/redirect2.pl?108

2) "The Station Nightclub Fire", Wikipedia, retrieved 27 August 2007

I'LL DRINK TO YOUR PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

Here's another Stella Award:

Amanda Jax, 21, celebrated her birthday the way many 21-year-olds do:
by going out to drink legally. As she partied at a Mankato, Minn.,
restaurant on October 29, 2007, her friends bought her drinks to
celebrate her milestone anniversary. Unfortunately, Jax, who was studying
nursing, drank herself to death, with a blood-alcohol content of 0.4594
percent. Whose fault is that? According to Jax's family, her friends are
to blame. In February her parents filed suit in Blue Earth County
District Court against not only the Sidelines Bar and Grill, which served
her, but five of her friends, since Jax was "in the care" of her friends
and couldn't care for herself, as she was "an obviously intoxicated
person." The suit argues they "created an unreasonable risk of causing
physical harm" to their adult friend, and "failed to exercise reasonable
care" in preventing harm from coming to her. Jax, the suit says, was
"particularly vulnerable and dependent" on her companions, who "held
considerable power" over her well being. That's right: she had no duty to
protect herself as she slugged down drink after drink, the lawsuit
argues; others had that duty. The adult drinker with a medical background
isn't responsible for a thing; her friends are. Those two drunk-driving
arrests prior to her birthday? Irrelevant! The suit seeks "an amount in
excess of $50,000" in damages. Binge drinking is certainly a problem in
our society. Yes, as a licensed facility the bar has some liability here.
Other than that, drinkers need to be held accountable for their own
actions, rather than demanding others to take responsibility for them.

SOURCE: "Family Sues Friends Who Partied with Jax", Minneapolis Star
Tribune, 28 February 2008
http://StellaAwards.com/cgi-bin/redirect2.pl?106

Stella Awards

Stella Awards are given for ridiculous lawsuits. Read and laugh:

HOUDINI WANNABE

Scott Anthony Gomez Jr, 22, was an inmate at the Pueblo County, Colo.,
jail. He escaped from his cell, made it to the roof ...and fell 40 feet
while trying to climb down the outside wall. It was his second escape,
but this one cost the county $64,000 to treat the injuries Gomez caused
himself. When the county asked him to pay for the medical treatment,
Gomez replied by suing in federal court in Denver. The basis? "Defendants
... did next to nothing to ensure that the jail was secure and the
plaintiff could not escape," the suit says, and he says he had warned
jailers that "there were many ways to get out of the facility." That's
right: it was the jail's fault he escaped, because it was too easy. And
therefore any injuries he sustained should be paid for by the county.
Surely a bit of "pain and suffering" would be welcome too -- the suit
doesn't specified the monetary damages he wants. Gomez's attorney had no
comment, but Pueblo County Sheriff Kirk Taylor did: he says the suit
"doesn't pass the straight-face test." The county has spent $1.2 million
for security improvements, and there have been no more escapes -- by
Gomez or anyone else.

STATUS: Apparently still pending.

SOURCE: "Prisoner's Lawsuit Says it Was Too Easy to Escape", Los Angeles
Times, 13 January 2008
http://StellaAwards.com/cgi-bin/redirect2.pl?101

-v-

JUMP SUITS ARE ALL THE FASHION

Jeb Corliss, 31, was grabbed just as he tried to jump off New York's
Empire State Building in 2006. He wasn't suicidal: he had a parachute. In
addition to being charged with reckless endangerment with "depraved
indifference to life" (which made it a felony), the Empire State Building
Company sued him for $12 million for endangering bystanders and, I would
assume, for exposing them to liability (the Company said it wanted to
discourage others from trying a similar stunt). They also accused Corliss
of having financial motivations. That's not Stella Awards-worthy, though;
this is: in January Corliss counter-sued the Empire State Building
Company in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan, charging that restraining
him from jumping was "unlawful imprisonment," which caused him "emotional
distress" as well as "adrenal fatigue" ("very similar to battle fatigue
syndrome," he said), which led to loss of income. For all of that, he
demands $30 million. Meanwhile, his felony charge was thrown out by a
judge, but an appeals court reinstated the reckless endangerment charge
as a misdemeanor, ruling the "depraved indifference to life" bit was
overdone, but certainly jumping off a building could endanger others. "No
one was in any danger of being injured except me," Corliss complains.

STATUS: Apparently still pending.

SOURCES:
1) "Would-Be Jumper Sues Empire State Building", New York Times, 15
January 2008
http://StellaAwards.com/cgi-bin/redirect2.pl?102

2) "Bid to Jump Off 86th Floor Was Illegal, Court Rules", New York Times,
5 March 2008. (This one's particularly interesting, even amusing.)
http://StellaAwards.com/cgi-bin/redirect2.pl?103