It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World

Pittsburgh Tribune Review ^ | 12/15/03 | Ralph R. Reiland

[thesummerwind]

Playing for the Pittsfield High School baseball team in Illinois, Danny Hannant threw a pitch that a Calhoun High School player hit in a line drive right at the pitcher's mound. The ball bounced off Hannant's head.

Rather than blame the mishap on a lousy pitch or a missed catch, or on the intrinsic risks of the game, Hannant sued the maker of the bat, Hillerich & Bradsby. Seeking in excess of $1 million, Hannant's lawyer argued that the company should have put labels on its Louisville Slugger bats warning that the product "could cause a baseball to be propelled with such velocity that when hit directly towards a pitcher it does not allow the pitcher sufficient reaction time to avoid being struck."

[tahiti]

"Before a customer can dig in, a waiver must be signed,"

This "waiver" does not matter to a trial lawyer.

Trial lawyers always brag, "I haven't found a contract that cannot be broken, yet."

But the reality of the success of frivilous litigation is not to blame the trial lawyers, it is the idiots, our friends and neighbors, who are in the jury pool, affirming and awarding these excessive claims, that is to blame for the problem of bankrupting the U.S. through litigation.

[E Rocc]

George Washington University law professor John Banzhaf

This guy would be ideal for a "Wanted" poster campaign. Fraud, theft, etc......

-Eric

[agrace]

Absolutely, asphalt or beds of small stones. Our jungle gyms in central PA were often made of those giant industrial spools. In 4th grade I broke my wrist jumping from one. My dad shoulda sued.

Of course, those were the days when, if you got in trouble at school, you actually got it worse when you got home.

[thesummerwind]

Thanks to the trial lawyers you can no longer walk around with both knees and elbows scabbed over.

Did you hear about that poor mother in PA last summer who was imprisoned (it turned out incorrectly and wrongly) for letting her little children get a sunburn at a county fair?

We must rein in the lawyers, or the kids will never grow to be well-adapted adults. We're raising a couple generations of pussys.

[thesummerwind]

it is the idiots, our friends and neighbors, who are in the jury pool, affirming and awarding these excessive claims, that is to blame for the problem of bankrupting the U.S. through litigation.

Well said, but it takes two to tango ........ maybe three to tango

1. The greedy, needy "victim".

2. The greedy, needy trial lawyers.

3. The idiots of the juries.

[thesummerwind]

eorge Washington University law professor John Banzhaf

Fat Chance; Lawyers Want to Sue Food Industry for Making People Fat --- Disgusting!

Hand me that double bacon cheeseburger, extra mayo please!

[Landru]

"Yeh, back when you played neighborhood football without a thought about wearing pads or a helmet!"

HA!!

We had a kid whose mother *insisted* he be permitted to play sandlot football with the neighborhood gang of roughians I ran with; BUT, she insisted the sissy be permitted to wear his dad's 40's era leather football helmet, also.
Y'know, the ones without a face guard & *wings* stitched across the forehead part?
We really resented that.

Poor "Bobby Barbian."
I [seriously] don't believe he ever could quite figure out why after the ball was snapped?
Both *def* & *offense* -- suddenly -- abandoned play just to hit *him*.

He might as well have showed up with a target painted on his forehead.

...guess we couldn't get away with that today, huh. :o)

[thesummerwind]

In 4th grade I broke my wrist jumping from one. ...... Of course, those were the days when, if you got in trouble at school, you actually got it worse when you got home.

"Dad, at least don't smack me on my cast!" ;)

[mhking]

Seeking in excess of $1 million, Hannant's lawyer argued that the company should have put labels on its Louisville Slugger bats warning that the product "could cause a baseball to be propelled with such velocity that when hit directly towards a pitcher it does not allow the pitcher sufficient reaction time to avoid being struck."

The 21st Century version of the lottery, eh?

Just damn.

If you want on the new list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

[LisaMalia]

Wow, does that bring back the memories. At my country gradeshool in the 60s, we had a swingset with only 3 swings on it. The biggest gripe was waiting in line to have a turn. When I was in about the 4th grade the PTO bought us a shiny new set with about 10 swings. You could really fly on those things. We would race to see who could get the highest, then jump off in midair.
Jumprope, hopscotch, tag,.....those were the days.

[John123]

I will not impose any insanity-related lawsuit againt the Tin-foil Democrat Party after hearing Mad-Maddy Halflbright (the human equivalent of the 15 watt bulb) say yesterday: "I wonder when George Bush will drag Osama bin Laden out of hiding? Just before the election?"

Actually, the Bush administration does have OBL in custody. Currently, he is being held in Karl Rove's spider hole. :)

[thesummerwind]

He might as well have showed up with a target painted on his forehead.

ROLF!!!!!!!!!

Check this out. We had a neighborhood in the early and mid-50's with about 15 little trouble-making post-WWII kids, I guess we were about the first baby boomers (I hate that phrase).

We had this one game we all loved. There was this one yard in our neighborhood where we played our "football" games, and everything else for that matter. This one game we made up was GREAT, I recommend it highly. We'd all get home from school, and all show up in the yard in about 15 minutes after checking in and out at home. We usually had about 8 to 12 kids playing this game.

It was called, Kill The Man. Here's how it went. We'd all get in a close group, one kid with the ball would throw the football directly up into the air, and one kid would "have the balls" to catch it. Then he'd try to run around as long as he could before any or all of us "killed" (tackled) him (and there was no such thing as "piling on"). As soon as he would get up with the ball, he threw it up in the air again, and the same thing happened over and over again.

Let me tell you, about an hour of that, and you slept well at night...... and you were considered a real jerk if you didn't grab the ball a few times, in order to get smeared!

And about that kid in YOUR neighborhood with the "target" on him. We had one of them too. Sometimes in this game, if our "target kid" was participating.......the throw was "mysteriously" directed to him, just to get him involved, you know. Ha! It was a ball. "Kill The Man".

[agrace]

HA! Didn't mean to suggest that the two statements were related in any way. I didn't get into trouble for breaking my wrist! :)

[thesummerwind]

Actually, the Bush administration does have OBL in custody. Currently, he is being held in Karl Rove's spider hole. :)

LOL! Bring Osama out about a week and a half before the election!

[ladyinred]

Totally freaking nuts!

[thesummerwind]

the Bush administration does have OBL in custody.

Whoever has the ‘Tin Foil Hat Concession' at the Boston Democrat Convention next year is going to make a alot of loot.

Mad Maddy Notbright thinks G.W. is going to find Jimmy Hoffa's body, Amelia Earhart’s 1937 crash site, and a cure for cancer a month before the 2004 Election.

Not bad!

[thesummerwind]

Yeh, I know. I was just kidding. ;)

[templar]

We have far too many lawyers.

We have far too many laws. As absolutely everything starts falling under some type of regulation, people no longer feel responsibility for their own actions, or a need to consider the risks involved before engaging in them.

[KRinNYC]

Re: "Kill The Man"

Apparently the trend grew and continued. I played this game as a kid in NY suburbs in the late 1970s. We called it "Kill the Carrier" though. Almost as fun as dirt bomb fights! Or "King of the Mountain".... Personally, I think these sorts of primal, Lord of the Flies type games are good character builders.

[templar]

. The idiots of the juries.

That's you and me, the general public.