Better watch your kids closely

[NikatKimber]

Judge, smudge.

It took a smarmy, slick and greedy lawyer to bring this suit.

There can be no doubt that lawyers definitely serve a useful purpose in our society but how hard would it be for them to exercise a little wisdom on occasion and say to a prospective client, "Say WHAT! You wanna sue a 4 year old ridin' a bicycle on the sidewalk because your granma, who shouldn't have been out on the street anyway was too freaking slow to move out of the way? Get serious and get the hell out of my office!"

I'd love to hear that. But the problem is that some other smarmy, slick and greedy lawyer would be glad to sue the pants off the first one for "insulting" gramma's estate.

 

[grizzly97]

Judge, smudge.

It took a smarmy, slick and greedy lawyer to bring this suit.

There can be no doubt that lawyers definitely serve a useful purpose in our society but how hard would it be for them to exercise a little wisdom on occasion and say to a prospective client, "Say WHAT! You wanna sue a 4 year old ridin' a bicycle on the sidewalk because your granma, who shouldn't have been out on the street anyway was too freaking slow to move out of the way? Get serious and get the hell out of my office!"

+1000

 

[ez bake]

Well a woman died in this incident so it should be taken seriously. I don't agree with suing the child, but the net result will be the same. The parents will have to foot the bill should the lawsuit be successful.

Yeah - if you read the article, the whole thing stinks - the mothers were "supervising" the children and letting them race bicycles on a public sidewalk (not the street - I'd venture to guess in NY, there's probably a law against bicycles on sidewalks too) - the kid hit an 87 year old lady and fractured her hip - resulting in a surgery and somehow (related or not) 3 months later she died.

The estate (read family of the 87 year old) sued the family (which means the parents of the kids) for negligence and their lawyer's response was:

"the girl was not “engaged in an adult activity” at the time of the accident - “She was riding her bicycle with training wheels under the supervision of her mother” - and was too young to be held liable for negligence."

That's a slimy move on the lawyer for the parents in trying to weasel out of being responsible for the consequences of letting your kids race bicycles on a public sidewalk with other people on it (and I'm guessing, not with as much control as they claim).

The ability to sue a 4 year old is ridiculous, but the parents sound awfully negligent if their kids were going fast enough on a public sidewalk to hit an old lady that hard.

 

[andrsnsm]

Greedy jerks

 

[Werewolf]

the parents sound awfully negligent if their kids were going fast enough on a public sidewalk to hit an old lady that hard.

It doesn't take much to break the hip of an 87 year old.

That said: where the hell are the kids supposed to be riding their bikes with training wheels? In the damned street? This is new york city we're talkin' about not OKC where most anyone with kids lives in a suburb.

WAIT! I know. Let's just ban kids ridin' bikes. Why the heck not? Works for everything else?

Or better yet and totally non PC - lets just keep freakin' invalids off the sidewalks.

 

[Glocktogo]

It never stated that she died from the accident. It just said she had a fractured hip and some surgeries. Then it stated she died 3 months later with no reason as to why. It's a trick a lot of journalists do to try and get everyone on their side. Not trying to argue, just saying that the paper never said why she died.

I must have read the article too quickly. I thought is said she died 3 weeks later. Even 3 months later, if she died due to complications of the surgery (and the elderly are prone to surgery complications), then the negligence would still fall upon the family of the child.

You see cases where victims of violence have died as much as a year after the attack and the suspect is charged with homicide. It's all a matter of whether the medical conclusion is that the victim died from the trauma inflicted during the event.

 

[NikatKimber]

It doesn't take much to break the hip of an 87 year old.

That said: where the hell are the kids supposed to be riding their bikes with training wheels? In the damned street? This is new york city we're talkin' about not OKC where most anyone with kids lives in a suburb.

WAIT! I know. Let's just ban kids ridin' bikes. Why the heck not? Works for everything else?

Or better yet and totally non PC - lets just keep freakin' invalids off the sidewalks.

Or down the stairs! I'm sure that would be a heck of a race! Wear your helmet susie!

One more reason I like living where I do, my kids (Lord willing we have them) will be able to ride on our property, no worries about traffic, vehicular or pedestrian.

 

[sabot_round]

Yeah - if you read the article, the whole thing stinks - the mothers were "supervising" the children and letting them race bicycles on a public sidewalk (not the street - I'd venture to guess in NY, there's probably a law against bicycles on sidewalks too) - the kid hit an 87 year old lady and fractured her hip - resulting in a surgery and somehow (related or not) 3 months later she died.

The estate (read family of the 87 year old) sued the family (which means the parents of the kids) for negligence and their lawyer's response was:

"the girl was not “engaged in an adult activity” at the time of the accident — “She was riding her bicycle with training wheels under the supervision of her mother” — and was too young to be held liable for negligence."

That's a slimy move on the lawyer for the parents in trying to weasel out of being responsible for the consequences of letting your kids race bicycles on a public sidewalk with other people on it (and I'm guessing, not with as much control as they claim).

The ability to sue a 4 year old is ridiculous, but the parents sound awfully negligent if their kids were going fast enough on a public sidewalk to hit an old lady that hard.

How fast can a 4 y/o go on a bike with training wheels?

 

[Glocktogo]

It doesn't take much to break the hip of an 87 year old.

That said: where the hell are the kids supposed to be riding their bikes with training wheels? In the damned street? This is new york city we're talkin' about not OKC where most anyone with kids lives in a suburb.

WAIT! I know. Let's just ban kids ridin' bikes. Why the heck not? Works for everything else?

Or better yet and totally non PC - lets just keep freakin' invalids off the sidewalks.

At 58, you're closer to training wheels on your walker than your bicycle. Perhaps you'll be singing a different tune when kids are running you over???

 

[ez bake]

It doesn't take much to break the hip of an 87 year old.

That said: where the hell are the kids supposed to be riding their bikes with training wheels? In the damned street? This is new york city we're talkin' about not OKC where most anyone with kids lives in a suburb.

WAIT! I know. Let's just ban kids ridin' bikes. Why the heck not? Works for everything else?

Or better yet and totally non PC - lets just keep freakin' invalids off the sidewalks.

You're totally right. Its completely the old lady's fault she was walking on a side-walk and got hit by kids on bicycles.

I'm not saying suing everyone is the way to go, but this story isn't completely one-sided.

BTW, how do you know how easy it is to break the hip of an 87 year old lady? You know what, I don't want to know