Stafford watch (A place for Stafford discussion)

[MichiganCardinal]

6 minutes ago, buddha said:

$3 million for that is quaint by today's standards.  you can get $3 million for a back strain nowadays if you play your cards right.

take randy's scenario.  if you put that claim with a good plaintiff's attorney, the first thing theyre going to do is send you to a plaintiff friendly neurologist who will produce a report that randy has a traumatic brain injury and that he will never be the same for the rest of his life.  he will sufferel from headaches, and memory loss and mood changes.  you get randy's wife or girlfriend to testify that he's not the same person that he used to be.  you'll find an expert to say that the way red robin places tvs right above where people are eating is a hazard, that they knew it was a hazard, and they did it anyway because they dont care about safety and they only care that it would cost them $50 to move it.  if randy really wanted to play it up, he could testify as to how it is really hard to work and concentrate and that he fears he might lose his job.  or heck, he quit his job because he cant do it anymore.

put it in wayne county, then you pick a jury full of teachers, nurses, women, and high school graduates and convince them that red robin is rich and poor randy is injured for the rest of his life.

boom.  youre a millionaire.

The new American Dream

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, buddha said:

$3 million for that is quaint by today's standards.  you can get $3 million for a back strain nowadays if you play your cards right.

take randy's scenario.  if you put that claim with a good plaintiff's attorney, the first thing theyre going to do is send you to a plaintiff friendly neurologist who will produce a report that randy has a traumatic brain injury and that he will never be the same for the rest of his life.  he will sufferel from headaches, and memory loss and mood changes.  you get randy's wife or girlfriend to testify that he's not the same person that he used to be.  you'll find an expert to say that the way red robin places tvs right above where people are eating is a hazard, that they knew it was a hazard, and they did it anyway because they dont care about safety and they only care that it would cost them $50 to move it.  if randy really wanted to play it up, he could testify as to how it is really hard to work and concentrate and that he fears he might lose his job.  or heck, he quit his job because he cant do it anymore.

put it in wayne county, then you pick a jury full of teachers, nurses, women, and high school graduates and convince them that red robin is rich and poor randy is injured for the rest of his life.

boom.  youre a millionaire.

As a person that has training in some level of safety practice, I would say putting a TV over a table is pretty stupid. And there are certainly a lot people that could have told the restaurant owner that. The problem is that none of them worked for him. That is really the biggest problem in the way American business operates, they won't pay to keep the expertise they need in their own house - instead they contract everything out at the lowest $$ amount and because of their own ignorance about what they are doing, don't know if their contractors know what they should either. As bad as the product liability system it, it's about the only thing that pushes back against American business losing the last shred of accountability they have left.

I mean - go right back the thing with Stafford - did they put up a stage without a railing or curbing? That would absolutely an accident waiting to happen, which really means it would be no accident at all.

But the dirty little secret is that despite the ridiculous payouts when someone hits at the judicial lottery, the fact is that business knows those payouts still cost them far less than doing things right - and that is the real scandal, which is another reason the system doesn't change.

Edited February 19, 2022 by gehringer_2