Freightpuppy

MikeB....so what happened with your 4 million lawsuit?

OldAg84

Hmm, Mike- perhaps your parents should be worried!

Insurance fraud is a problem, no doubt- but that's not the argument here, the victims obviously have a valid claim.

I'll tell my little story. At school my 10 year old son is playing on equipment. His friend pulls on one arm while his arm is caught between two bars. As a result hebreaks both bones in his forearm. If I could post the X-ray, I would-I think the orthopedist even winced some. We had it set- that's the ACCIDENT portion of this story.

Now it's fragile but OK. My wife goes to school, talks to the class and the teacher, telling them "we need to be careful". To make a long story short, a girl, fooling around, trips him. He displaces the bone- the teacher fails to report it. This is the NEGLIGENCE part of the story. Results-

1-Additional pain and discomfort for him.
2-Having your boy cry on his birthday because it's surgery not baseball.
3-Surgery for my son. Rod placed
4-Bad reaction to anaestheia- nothing life threatening.
5-$2,000 out of pocket. $20,000 bill
6- Me out of work for two days- I'm self employed.
7- Boy with some significant scars on his forearm, but thankfully no other issues.

The teacher flat out failed to do her job. Should I eat the $2,000? Tell me why? Should a child suffer additional pain and lose out on 5% of his baseball seasons because an adult didn't seem to get it? Tell me why. It started as an accident, but was made 10 times worse by negligence. My wife and I are still on the fence with regard to a lawsuit.

All this PALES with what happened in LEX. I wouldn't trade my lot with any of those people for anything.

Next time you accuse people of being money hungry- ask yourself- "If I were to lose XXXX (place eyesight, leg, hearing, mobility, etc.) tomorrow-
what would I be willing to pay to prevent it if I could?" Let me know when you come up with some figures for yourself.

Freightpuppy

The teacher probably didn't report it because she was scared that you would sue her for everything she/he has.

Now I am being sarcastic but I am sure the vicious sue happy cycle has led people to do things such as this. I'll tell you this....when I have seen something happen on an airplane to someone, I think "oh great, I am sure they will try to get something out of this" first rather than "is the person ok?". That is pretty sad but it is reality.

I wonder if the shoe was on the other foot (ie. you were the LEX co-pilot)...would you be willing to give the families everything you have worked so hard for? Even your home? When it comes to lawsuits, victims and their families will not stop short of coming after EVERYTHING you have. Would you be ok with that if you were the person who caused the accident? People seem to forget that it could happen to them as well. One day you could be sued for everything....are you ok with that?

OldAg84

Getting sued. Hey nobody likes it. I'm not buying that the teacher was afraid of getting sued- typically, employees are covered by their employers. Bottom line, she didn't do the job she was paid to do. Perhaps, employees, acting in their position, should be exempt from suits? Again, she didn't do her job, and now, moneywise, I'm out of pocket $2,000.

Tell me why I should eat that. It's like somebody reaching into my wallet and taking it. Let alone what my son went through.

Believe me, my wife and I are not looking at this as a winning lottery ticket.

But this is about LEX and lawyers.

At this point, I'm not going to think for the LEX co-pilot. He has suffered for sure and probably enough, and it's not over yet. But he was at the controls and he is where he is today.

One day you could be sued for everything....are you ok with that?

I have to be, I live in America. The three take home lessons:

1. Don't screw up.
2. If you do, have insurance (yes insurance rates are high, bla,bla,bla believe me I know)
3. If you need one, get a good lawyer.

I've been sued, it was my fault (stupid telephone pole). Thankfully, the injuries we're only moderate, not severe. Insurance covered it. Rates went up, Dad wasn't happy, and life went on.

FP- what's your career worth to you? Emotionally, financially, etc? You and I have been down this road before (Southwest/Chicago) and it's hard, if not impossible to put a number on. But God forbid an accident happens; I suspect you'll get a lawyer to help you figure it out.

Hope neither of us ever has to find out.

MikeB525

The whole thing has basically stalled right now. The plantiffs (the ones who may have committed the fraud) didn't even submit their depositions yet (I submitted mine months ago). I'd love to get to the bottom of everything, so I've been tossing around the idea of getting a private investigator.

MikeB525

Old: In your case, I'd say you could file a claim for precisely $2000 to recoup your out of pocket expenses. To support your case you have the bills, recepits, etc.


In your case you do indeed have a legitimate claim to two thousand dollars. The societal problem is people in your situation trying to get two million dollars when the problem only cost them 2 thousand dollars.

As for the "pain and suffering" part: It cannot be proven. In Legalese, it "calls for a legal conclusion". In addition, there is no way to precisely calculate just how much it's worth. Theres no formula, algorithm, or math equation, no bills, receipts, etc. I'd say you can get, say, and extra $1000 on top of the recoupment of your expenses. Get your son a new bicycle, take him to a ball game, and perhaps use the rest to start him a mutual fund or something.

mccube5

Mike, BINGO!!

Old in your case everything you are doing in trying to recoup the $2000 in losses is completely leigtimate. You and your wife sound like stand up people, nice to know there are still a few of us out there. But imagine the schmuck that the same exact thing happens to his son. He goes after the school for i dont know lets say $200K, not even the millions a lot of other cases seem to be. Well how does he justify such a liarge claim when its $2K hes out. Happens every day it seems.

The best example to this argument is the old woman at McDonald's. Order a HOT coffee, spill it on YOURSELF because YOU'RE an idiot, and then sue McD's for millions (AND WIN!!!???). I feel like this case might have set such a ridiculous precedent that its left the entire legal system in a state of anarchy.

My only feelings are that you can't place a dollar value on a life, and essentially thats what we are trying to do in this country.

OldAg84

Mike,

Here's the deal-

1. At first the school's insurance wouldn't pay our out of pocket because they said there was "no negligence". That's the way insutance plays.

2. We wrote a letter threatening legal action because of negligence, they said "send us your receipts". This pi55ed my wife off so much, she said, "perhaps we should sue". Believe me, she knows a lot of lawyers, good ones too. That's the way we play.

3. She also said, "if we sue, we are suing for all of it". That's the way attorneys play. Believe me don't pi55 of my wife- she's too smart and stubborn.

4. There are formulas based on previous law- broken arms in falls, etc. The lawyers typically start at one point, find a middle, get a settlement, and every gets their money (including the lawyers) and they move on. That's the way attorneys play.

5. As for pain, I can attest to it (not prove it); I saw what my son went through- twice- because somebody f*#%ed up (that's street talk for negligence) and didn't do their job. $1,000 won't cut it. That's why we have the legal system. But hey, can I break your kid's arm for $1,000? $2,000? Then would you tell, "him hold still, it's going into a mutual fund?" Please.

By the way- in your suit- do you have attorneys?

ryguy

I don't think they are money hungry at all. Imagine you are the wife or husband with a family and THE BILLS and the main breadwinner in the family has died in a tragic accident. Should you now not only lose your loved one but also lose your home? People have bills and the mortgage company is going to say "sorry for your loss, can you pay your mortgage?" When you say no they will be ready to start the foreclosure proceedings. There is no slack for anything in our society. Companies have "policies that are absolute" and do not allow for your tragedy. They want to get paid and get paid NOW as they always have. You may have lost your loved one but be damned sure you will also lose everything if you don't take care of the bills.

I flew into LEX two days ago, it was strange and eye opening. Luckily we weren't using the same runway, the airport was turned around. That place is a damn mess. I got confused just trying to find the taxiway. Nothing but red flashing barracade lights and more closed taxiways than you can count. The only runway lights that worked were the edge lights on the active runway. At the gate we were running late (from EWR) on our way to IAH and found ourselves getting a bit in a hurry. It was sobering and eerie and I told my FO to slow it down. They messed up, no doubt about it but it could happen to ANY competent pilot placed in those circumstances. If you don't think so then you are the next one waiting to happen. If ANY LINK IN THE CHAIN had been broken this would not have happened. The stars aligned or whatever but everything happened that needed to happen.

Freightpuppy

ryguy...ok but answer my questions from the previous post.

If you were the one who screwed up, would you be ready to give up your home and assets to the families? I know someone whose family member was involved in an accident and passed. The passenger's families sued for everything. They even went after the family home! Is that acceptable to you if you ever screw up?