Can you say "Tort Reform"? I knew you could...

[smc331]

Here is a prime example of the need for tort reform - the guy cuts his finger off using a table saw, sues and wins.
Wonder if he was using the blade guard and the riving knife?

Is the SawStop technology great? Sure is - on an $1800 saw with the technology making up ~$4-500 of the price, versus a $249 jobsite saw. Kinda like which car has the best safety features - a $7k econobox or a $60K luxury car?

What is this country coming to?



http://www.boston.com/yourtown/malden/a ... _saw_case/

Boston Globe

Man wins $1.5m in first of its kind saw case

By Jenn Abelson, Globe Staff | March 6, 2010

A Boston jury has awarded $1.5 million to a Malden man who injured his fingers on a saw while installing oak wood flooring several years ago in a first of its kind case that claimed the standard design of American table saws is defective.

Carlos Osorio accused One World Technologies Inc., maker of Ryobi saws, of negligence for failing to include a flesh detection technology that would prevent most serious injuries, according to a copy of the complaint filed in 2006 in US District Court in Boston.

After five surgeries and years of rehabilitation, two of Osorio’s fingers are permanently disfigured and unusable, and he has suffered numbness and loss of feeling in three other fingers.

“Hopefully, this means the industry is finally going to recognize that catastrophic injuries could be averted and they need to make this technology standard so people don’t have these senseless injuries,’’ said Richard J. Sullivan, one of the lawyers representing Osorio.

One World Technologies said it had been advised of the verdict.

“We are evaluating the results with our lawyers, and evaluating how to proceed,’’ said Jason Swanson, a spokesman for One World Technologies.

“Notwithstanding the outcome of this trial and any possible appeal, we remain confident that the saw which was the subject of this lawsuit was well-designed and manufactured with all due consideration for the needs and safety of the consumer.’’

Osorio’s case is one of more than 50 lawsuits pending throughout the United States against the major table saw manufacturers for failure to adopt the technology, which would stop a power saw blade almost instantly upon contact with human flesh.

During Osorio’s trial, an expert witness for the defense acknowledged that if the saw had the flesh detection technology, it would have created a 1/8-inch deep cut on one finger, Osorio’s lawyers said. Instead, Osorio suffered near-amputation of one finger and severe lacerations on four other fingers.

Jenn Abelson can be reached at abelson@globe.com.

[VBshooter]

AN absolutelty ridiculous case but coming from liberal land Taxachussetts I really am not surprised. Tort reform is needed even more than health insurance reform.

[zephyp]

The one more silly is the one that started it all. The woman who was awarded a cool $10 million for spilling MacCoffee on herself. Said she wasnt warned it was hot. Probably some big fat water buffalo person who put the styrofoam cup between her thighs where it was immediately squashed...leading to hot coffee (is coffee really hot - but you didnt warn me) all over her lap...is that really worth taking the courts time much less $10M....utterly ridiculous...

[VBshooter]

I'll add to that with what the hell is wrong with the idiots on these juries? Is it hate of big business ,a love of morons,or are these trial lawyers that convincing... It is totally inane the awrds that come out of these cases at times, But the lawyersw aren't gonna complain ,,they get very well compensated from an award like that. The British system should be modified and adopted here to slow down these nonsense suits,,,Example: Gun maker is responsible for some gangbanging numskulls death,,,,, As long as the courts allow these suits we;ll have them and their ridiculous awards

[zephyp]

You nailed it Spence. Pack the juries with sympathetic morons and someone gets $10 million merely for being scaled by coffee...

We bought a fan last year and there was a sticker on the grill that said: PLEASE DO NOT STICK TONGUE IN MOVING FAN BLADES.

Now why would the manufacturer put that sticker there. One of two reasons or both: (1) some moron stuck their tongue in the moving fan blades and sued the company and won or (2) the team of tech writers felt compelled to put that warning there so all morons would hopefully be notified and the company would be somewhat protected against lawsuits.

[OakRidgeStars]

and on that note, I give you the list below:

http://www.rinkworks.com/said/warnings.shtml

[zephyp]

and on that note, I give you the list below:

http://www.rinkworks.com/said/warnings.shtml

Good ones. I remember taking an undergrad course in tech writing and there was a whole section on how to write warnings for products. Young and I buy Korean products from time to time. The English documentation is funny to read obviously, but you dont see all those silly warnings. Every product I buy the first 2-3 pages of the user's guide is warnings. And if that aint bad enough, for most the first page is devoted to deciphering the next 2 pages. No wonder stuff here costs so much. They have to pay a room full of geniuses to spend their time trying to second guess what morons and twits might do to hurt themselves with a medium sized rubber ball.