Yet another reason to carry flashlights...

jnj1033 · Aug 22, 2006

I read the following story in "This Is True!", an email publication I subscribe to. Just one more you can cite when people ask why.

(Moderators: This forum seemed most appropriate to me, but feel free to move it if it belongs somewhere else.)

DUH CLIFF II, "While finding a place to relieve himself"
late at night, camper Jerry Mersereau, 23, "walked off the
unguarded and unprotected cliff falling approximately 20 to 30
feet to the creek bed below" in the Mt. Hood National Forest
in Oregon. No, that's not a quote from a death report; it's
from Mersereau's lawsuit against the U.S. Government. Mersereau
claims the government "should have known the cliff posed a
danger to campers" and posted a warning sign. By not doing so,
it's the government's fault he suffered "mental anguish" from
his ordeal. It was not reported how much he's seeking in
the suit.
(Portland Oregonian) ...How about 10 bucks so the moron
can buy a flashlight?

[Copyright 2006 by Randy Cassingham. Quoted with permission
from the author.]

Mr. Cassingham collects strange but true news stories and
passes them on to subscribers in a weekly email, which I have
been enjoying for about a year now. As a condition of quoting
his publication, he requested that I put in a plug for his
website, where you can get a free subscription.
http://www.thisistrue.com

I emailed him for permission to post the story and found out he
has more than a passing interest in decent lights:

"I've been there! I've been looking for the perfect AA LED
light, but have usually been disappointed. Have tried
scanning the forums to try to find something. It amazes me that
Mag hasn't come out with a Luxeon mini, but at least they now
have bulb inserts for the D lights, which I'm quite satisfied
with. Nice price, too.

But typically, maglite.com STILL shows they "look forward"
to the rollout "in early 2006". Sheesh!"

EDIT:

Grox said:
jnj1033

That story made me shake my head. Did you direct Mr. Cassingham over to CPF?

I don't know if he has been to this particular forum before now, but I did give him the URL when I requested permission to post, and I recommended flashlightreviews.com. At his request, I also emailed him the URL of this thread. For what it's worth, he emailed me back and said he bought a set of those silver 1W 2AA Costco lights for $20. Looks like the price may have gone down since Doug reviewed them.

Supernam · Aug 22, 2006

That's awesome. Now the real CPF's question is... What light should he buy if he won a $10 lawsuit? :laughing:

Grox · Aug 22, 2006

jnj1033

That story made me shake my head. Did you direct Mr. Cassingham over to CPF?

dixemon · Aug 22, 2006

This is the only country I know of that you can sue someone because your a dumbass!

Dadof6 · Aug 22, 2006

Lots of countries let you sue people when you're an idiot, don't be fooled into thinking that the U.S.A. is the only one.

Sharpdogs · Aug 22, 2006

dixemon said:
This is the only country I know of that you can sue someone because your a dumbass!

One of the best statements I heard in awhile. Unfortunately it's 100%. I am off to buy some steaming hot coffee.

Rando · Aug 22, 2006

dixemon said:
This is the only country I know of that you can sue someone because your a dumbass!

This, in and of itself, is not a problem. The problem is when judges and juries agree with said dumbass and award damages. What should ideally happen is when a frivolous lawsuit goes to trial, the dumbass should have his case tossed out and the defense attorney's fees, court costs, etc. charged to the plaintiff. Sue away if you wish, but you'll have your alleged mental anguish and a pile of legal fees.

Ivanhoe · Aug 22, 2006

Rando said:
This, in and of itself, is not a problem. The problem is when judges and juries agree with said dumbass and award damages. What should ideally happen is when a frivolous lawsuit goes to trial, the dumbass should have his case tossed out and the defense attorney's fees, court costs, etc. charged to the plaintiff. Sue away if you wish, but you'll have your alleged mental anguish and a pile of legal fees.

+1

elgarak · Aug 22, 2006

Rando said:
This, in and of itself, is not a problem. The problem is when judges and juries agree with said dumbass and award damages. What should ideally happen is when a frivolous lawsuit goes to trial, the dumbass should have his case tossed out and the defense attorney's fees, court costs, etc. charged to the plaintiff. Sue away if you wish, but you'll have your alleged mental anguish and a pile of legal fees.

Blindasabat · Aug 22, 2006

Rando said:
This, in and of itself, is not a problem. The problem is when judges and juries agree with said dumbass and award damages. What should ideally happen is when a frivolous lawsuit goes to trial, the dumbass should have his case tossed out and the defense attorney's fees, court costs, etc. charged to the plaintiff. Sue away if you wish, but you'll have your alleged mental anguish and a pile of legal fees.

I've been advocating that for years, but the regrettably true consequence will be that poor people who have been legitimately wronged will be afraid to sue because they may end up owing money. The wrong people win too often, so the best defense is prevention. Somebody buy that guy a $10 flashlight and the sense to know not to walk blindly in the dark on a tall mountain.

webley445 · Aug 22, 2006

Blindasabat said:
........Somebody buy that guy a $10 flashlight and the sense to know not to walk blindly in the dark on a tall mountain.

I wonder if alcohol consumtion is involved in the case?

havand · Aug 22, 2006

Supernam said:
That's awesome. Now the real CPF's question is... What light should he buy if he won a $10 lawsuit? :laughing:

I'll give the REAL CPF replay to the question..... A Surefire.

:laughing:

Sub_Umbra · Aug 22, 2006

In one of those "How I became a flashaholic" threads a CPFer related narrowly averting a similar fate. He stated that when he woke in the morning he went outside the cabin and saw that the place where he stood to take a leak in the dark the night before was just a foot or two from a sheer cliff. That pushed him to get into flashlights.

dyyys1 · Aug 22, 2006

Rando said:
This, in and of itself, is not a problem. The problem is when judges and juries agree with said dumbass and award damages. What should ideally happen is when a frivolous lawsuit goes to trial, the dumbass should have his case tossed out and the defense attorney's fees, court costs, etc. charged to the plaintiff. Sue away if you wish, but you'll have your alleged mental anguish and a pile of legal fees.

I agree. People should be able to sue if they want, but they should only win in a case of clear negligence or other blatantly irresponsible practices on the part of the defendant.

CLHC · Aug 22, 2006

Grox said:
Did you direct Mr. Cassingham over to CPF?

Same question here to. . .

Dadof6 · Aug 22, 2006

A follow up on my comment about this not being the only country where suing is so easy. A lot of times the media blows things out of proportion and people get stirred up over some "crazy" judgment. The McDonalds coffee case is a great example of that. McDonalds had been sued many, many, times because their drive up window people kept on accidentaly spilling coffee on the drivers of the vehicles and they did nothing to keep it from happening. Finally a jury, in an effort to make McDonalds change so that people would stop getting burned, awarded a vrerdict against McDonalds that equaled 1 day's worth of McDonald's coffee sales to get McDonald's attention, which it did. Since that time McDonald's has made changes to keep customers from getting burned. But it was a jury of ordinary people who looked at the facts and decided that McDonalds cared more about making money than protecting its customers and that McDonalds needed to change things.

So go get your coffee, but thank a good jury when you don't get it spilled all over you and you get 3rd degree burns.

wquiles · Aug 22, 2006

Rando said:
This, in and of itself, is not a problem. The problem is when judges and juries agree with said dumbass and award damages. What should ideally happen is when a frivolous lawsuit goes to trial, the dumbass should have his case tossed out and the defense attorney's fees, court costs, etc. charged to the plaintiff. Sue away if you wish, but you'll have your alleged mental anguish and a pile of legal fees.

+2

Will

greenLED · Aug 22, 2006

Dixemon and Rando, I agree.

Grox and CHC, the second quote in jnj1033's OP makes me think Mr. Cassingham has been to CPF, as it partially reads:

I've been there! I've been looking for the perfect AA LED light, but have usually been disappointed. Have tried scanning the forums to try to find something.

dixemon · Aug 22, 2006

Sharpdogs said:
One of the best statements I heard in awhile. Unfortunately it's 100%. I am off to buy some steaming hot coffee.

stockae92 · Aug 22, 2006

Sharpdogs said:
One of the best statements I heard in awhile. Unfortunately it's 100%. I am off to buy some steaming hot coffee.

wait a sec, if i got burn from spilling hot coffee, can i sue for lifetime unlimited free coffee?

oh wait, somebody already did that.

come on, how on earth would i know that a hot coffee would be hot?

Yet another reason to carry flashlights...

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