O.M.F.G.W.T.F.

[plonq]

Choo-a-woo!  It's the Stupid Express pulling into the station.

Every once in awhile a story hits the news that reminds us that we have not yet plumbed the deepest depths of human stupidity.  I don't know which is worse in this one, the incident itself, or the fact that she actually found a lawyer to take her case.  Oy.

The article is in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, but I've cut & pasted it below the cut as well.  lionkingcmsl will especially appreciate this one, I think.  Read the first line of the story.  Read it again.  "for failing to warn... what?!"

And with her last functioning brain cell she called a lawyer.


Woman struck by train sues railroad
                         
By Matthew Junker
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, November 5, 2004

A Jeannette woman who was slightly injured after being struck by a train while walking along railroad tracks sued Norfolk Southern Corp. Thursday for failing to warn pedestrians that trains travel on tracks.

Patricia M. Frankhouser, of 910 Scott Ave., is seeking an unspecified amount in excess of $30,000 from the Norfolk, Va., rail transport company for the Jan. 6 incident that left her with a broken finger, cuts on her hand and pain, according to the suit.

Greensburg attorney Harry F. Smail Jr., who represents Frankhouser, didn't return a call seeking comment.

Within the filing, he argues that the railroad was negligent for failing to post signs warning "of the dangers of walking near train tracks and that the tracks were actively in use."

According to the suit, Frankhouser was walking along the tracks near Seventh and Eighth streets in Jeannette.

"Defendant's failure to warn plaintiff of the potential dangers negligently provided plaintiff with the belief she was safe in walking near the train tracks," the suit states.

The filing does not state why Frankhouser failed to hear the oncoming train and get out of the way.

It also does not state if she was crossing the rail bed or walking in between, or along, the tracks.

The case has been assigned to Westmoreland County Judge William J. Ober. No hearing has been set.

Comments

[lowen-kind.livejournal.com]

I hope the judge throw the suit out. She was lucky she wasn't killed. Anyway the noise of the train provides ample warning that hte tracks are in use.

She was tresspassing, pure and simple.

What are railroads supposed to do, post signs every 10 feet?

Stay off the tracks people. THey are not shortcuts, playgrounds, trails, etc.

you can get seriously hurt, and even killed.

[kamiten.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to figure out how this compares to the coffee in lap lawsuit against McDonalds several years back. To think of all the judges time that's wasted on ridiculous lawsuits these days; don't they have more important cases to attend to?

[hantamouse.livejournal.com]

Because ones chances of winning in the court system are greater than ones chances of winning the Lotto.
If you don't sue, you can't win.

[twoolfe.livejournal.com]

Woof Sighs... Too DAM**D true. Problem is the idiots have gotten accustomed to being rewarded for stupidity.
T.

[boinggoat.livejournal.com]

With respect to the mcdonalds coffee one; it makes more sense when you're told that the coffee sas so hot it (I was told) dissolved the glue holding the bottom of the cup to the rest of it and that's why it spilled in her lap and gave her serious burns all over her crotch.

[fuzzytoedcollie.livejournal.com]

...which is why spam continues to clog mail baskets. SOMEONE's making money off it, alas :(

[gedrean.livejournal.com]

Heh. No it didn't. The problem was the lid was not secured to the top correctly. She also was not the one driving it. And it did give her third degree burns. Any liquid that hot is not intended for immediate ingestion. That was the merit of the case, that product sold was not intended for use.

[kamiten.livejournal.com]

At that point, Mr. Goens and the other jurors knew only the basic facts: that two years earlier, Stella Liebeck had bought a 49-cent cup of coffee at the drive-in window of an Albuquerque McDonald's, and while removing the lid to add cream and sugar had spilled it, causing third-degree burns of the groin, inner thighs and buttocks. Her suit, filed in state court in Albuquerque, claimed the coffee was "defective" because it was so hot.

I tried finding numbers on the melting point of glue, but couldn't. I did find the melting point of styrofoam though, which is all of 1100 degrees farenheit (water boils at 212 F).

According to the article about the court case where I got that above information from, McDonalds serves their coffee between 180 and 190 degrees, a good 20 degrees hotter than most any other place you can get coffee. Even so, you should still be careful what you're doing with anything that is hot.