What is wrong with America?...

[pariann]

oh not everything is gone from US soil.  And no you aren't being an alarmist....it just doesn't matter in the long run. If I've learned nothing in the last 48 years, I've learned that businesses can do whatever they want, and the little people have no choice in their decisions.  Even our buying power is down.

An Lo, in case you didn't know.  I'm unemployed, and can't find a job here in Anderson...and can't afford to go outside of the city to find a full time job.  So I don't like these jobs not being here.  But like I said...in the end what does it matter? You and I can make no difference.  Things are going to be what they are until the business owners make a change.

[Palehorse]

The problem is they will not make a change unless they are forced to. Yes, grass-root efforts are fairly futile, especially at first, and government regulations are one of the drivers behind the flight of manufacturing from U.S. soil. But a combination of these efforts must be the answer, at least in part.

Things like NAFTA made it a no brainer for business leaders to pull up stakes and leave the high costs of doing business in the U.S. for the low cost of doing that same business in other countries. Yeah, it may have made the country all warm and fuzzy with our new found friends in those countries, but where are they now that our citizens are starving and living at below poverty levels of income annually?
(Eating steaks, slurping imported adult beverages, and laughing at the plight of U.S. citizens no doubt!)

[Exterminator]

If you really want something to bitch about, try this on for size.

[Henry Hawk]

If you really want something to bitch about, try this on for size.

don't even get me started....THIS is a bunch of lawyers that should NOT exist.

[Exterminator]

don't even get me started....THIS is a bunch of lawyers that should NOT exist.

So the parents have no culpability?

[Henry Hawk]

So the parents have no culpability?

they should have their asses kicked by the judge for bringing such BS cases to his court...wasting Taxpayers money.

[me]

I feel sorry for the parents because they lost a child but there is always a risk in sports and that could have happened with a wooden bat.  Those attorney's just seen a chance to make a buck and the parents sucked into it. Ambulance chasing attorney's should be barred. 

[Exterminator]

I feel sorry for the parents because they lost a child but there is always a risk in sports and that could have happened with a wooden bat.  Those attorney's just seen a chance to make a buck and the parents sucked into it. Ambulance chasing attorney's should be barred. 

Why are you so sure that the parents aren't the ones who saw a chance to make a buck and contacted the attorneys?

[me]

Why are you so sure that the parents aren't the ones who saw a chance to make a buck and contacted the attorneys?

Either way it shouldn't be allowed to happen but most generally it's an ambulance chasing attorney that put's the idea into peoples heads in cases like these.

[Anne]

Maybe the parents did contact a lawyer first but I know from experience when a child is killed the lawyers arrive in swarms wanting to sue everyone who might have been even remotely involved.

[Exterminator]

Maybe the parents did contact a lawyer first but I know from experience when a child is killed the lawyers arrive in swarms wanting to sue everyone who might have been even remotely involved.

Even if you could quantify that, the attorneys could not pursue a case without the parents' involvement so the ultimate responsibility rests with them.

[Palehorse]

Since we're going to speak from experience on this subject, let me just say this.

Parents that lose a child are emotionally well beyond devastated, and the grief they experience goes far beyond that experienced in the loss of a sibling, parent, or other beloved relative. Much more beyond it. The grieving process is magnified exponentially as well, and when they reach the anger phase you don't want to be anywhere near any type of possible "root cause" status.

You think you've seen someone lose control, but you've never seen anyone lose it until you've been around a parent in the anger phase of grief over the loss of a child. Nothing, and I mean nothing, can stop them once they get tone lock on a possible cause; and if that cause can be shown to be connected to the practices, policies, procedures, or products of an industry with deep pockets, they'll dig into those pockets with both hands if at all possible. (I know because 20 years ago I was one of those parents).

And who could blame them? I don't. The court system makes the determinations in these cases, and in the one in question here how can we say it was the parents who needed their asses kicked for filing a "BS case" when the court awarded them funds?  Apparently the jury who heard the evidence deemed it valid and the court approved the award. . . And I am certain that the company's attorneys filed more than one motion to dismiss due to what they were surely viewing as a frivolous case to begin with. I have sat on a jury in civil cases and I know how the process works. I also know that juries are not stupid and, (like we did in on such a case here in Anderson), when a case is shown to be frivolous, or when the party bringing suit demonstrates they are money grubbing maggots, the jury will take that into account in deciding.   

IMHO the precedent was set for cases such as this one when the courts began allowing the families of individuals that were shot by human beings, sue the manufacturers of firearms used in the commission of acts of murder for monetary awards. So, why not bats, knives, forks, spoons, blah, blah, blah!

Is it bullshit? Yeah personally I believe it is; but until the courts render decisions that say it is, it legally is not. . . That is not the parents fault. I give them a pass due to emotional distress that renders them incapable of making a rational decision. . .

[Henry Hawk]

with that said, it is a reminder, that it is easy to speak about such things from a practical sense...I hope and pray, that I never have to be in such a situation...but the bottom line is, who is really at fault?.....we seem to forget, that ACCIDENTS DO HAPPEN, and nobody on many occassions, is at "fault".....to sue for the sake of suing has become second nature....too many lawyers make a living off of such cases....the play on the hearts and souls of their victims......and the outcome effects innocent people.

[Palehorse]

One has to wonder just where all the faith in our court system has gone, and why has it left? I know for a fact that hundreds of cases are thrown out of court each and every day in this country, because they are baseless, frivolous, or just downright stupid money grubbing efforts; and it is the responsibility of the judges in these cases to toss them. In some cases, (too few if you ask me), the lawyer filing the suit is reprimanded as well. Still, a lot of folks none-the-less quick to question the validity of the decisions of the courts in cases such as this one. Why?

Certainly I have had experiences in my life that color my personal opinions surrounding the legal / justice systems, just like everyone else, but although these experiences cause me to disagree with certain laws enacted, or polices, I still have faith that in the end the truth will win. It is the way our system is supposed to work, and though it may move frustratingly slow in many cases, eventually the "right" decisions will be arrived at.

The legal system is a living and breathing entity and it is constantly changing. As societal pressures and perspectives swing from left to right like the pendulum on a Regulator clock, so does our justice / legal system, and it has to be this way. We cannot allow ourselves to grow content with anything that does not accurately represent the moral majority within society, or we risk losing the faith of the very same individuals the laws and policies are enacted to protect and serve. Indeed, it is for this very reason that practitioners of law are a vital part of our justice system, for unless cases are brought to question and try the virtues of our laws, by what measure are we going to gauge our success in their accuracy and success? The "happiness" of the average human being in living within or outside of them? That would be an awfully leaky vessel within which to carry the lifeblood of our nation, would it not?

This is not to say that the system works perfectly, for certainly the individuals that have been wronged by this very system consists of a very long list that grows each and every day; and includes individuals that pay the ultimate price for these wrongful decisions by being put to death for the crimes they were wrongfully convicted of. No, it is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, and certainly will never be so because it is a creation of humankind, and like humankind it is flawed, slow to change, and resistant to change.

It is because of these imperfections that I feel the law has fallen far short in recognition of them, for judges, lawyers, and politicians are prone to being victimized by one of the very vital tools of their trade; emotion. 

Gather up twenty or thirty victims families that feel slingshots should be banned because someone in their family lost an eye, trot them out before congress, or onto the witness stand, and before the cameras, and watch as their emotional pleas wash over the juries, audiences, and congressional hearings of this land like a Tsunami of tears; and like a Tsunami, you will see individuals holding positions of power and decision making, being washed along helplessly within its unstoppable forces, moved to decisions arrived at in haste in order to placate the few. But for lawyers to try the validity of these decisions, we would be awash in the flotsam of emotional irrationality; drowning in the resultant sea-foam that clogs our throats and chokes the life out of us.

The worst of these situations is when they happen to you, so it would seem to be incumbent upon us all to assure that the process works as best it can; and when it does not to undertake actions to enact the changes and governance necessary to safeguard all. Anything less is risking chaos and anarchy.

[Anne]

Even if you could quantify that, the attorneys could not pursue a case without the parents' involvement so the ultimate responsibility rests with them.

When my grandchildren were killed (in a single vehicle accident and they were the only ones in the car) within a few days there were at least 5 lawyers contacting my daughter and her husband wanting them to sue at least 4 different people/companies/state. My cousins son was killed in a motor vehicle accident (his truck was hit by another truck that crossed the center line) she had essentially the same experience. My daughter and her husband chose not to sue anyone and I don't think my cousin did either. When you have lost a child like this you are devastated and I can see why it would be easy (?) to want to sue someone. Not logical maybe but understandable. No one should ever have to face that decision.