On 24 Jul 96 01:21:34 -0800, dlv@bwalk.dm.com wrote:
I think Tim May is growing senile...
This is new? <g>
(Later examples were to be even worse. For example, the burglar who climbed on a roof and stepped through a skylight. He sued, and won. I guess the owner of the property was obligated to install night lights so burglars could see their way, and to generally make his property more "burglar-friendly."
Actually, he fell through the roof of a school he was trying to burgalize.
In a similar incident a burglar broke into a house that was being treated for pests (i.e., was full of toxic fumes). He died; his family sued the owners and won.
Maybe someone can post a reference to these two cases. I recall that both happened in New York, but I could be wrong.
I remember hearing about a case on this end of the continent (west coast) that involved a store that had been robbed many times. The owner noticed that most burglars came through the skylight, so he electrified it. Not much of a charge, just something like 12 volts - enough to keep someones hands off of it... However, a klutzy burglar managed to fall into the skylight and get stuck. His partner deserted him. Over the course of several hours, he died... *ouch* Needless to say, his next-of-kin sued and won. The guy lost his store. Another one I liked: in (I believe) Pennsylvania, a drunk peed on an electrified third rail. His next of kin sued the trolley company and won... A man tried to commit suicide in Chicago by jumping onto an El track. He was only crippled, so he sued and won! // Chris Adams <adamsc@io-online.com> - Webpages for sale! Se habla JavaScript! // Automatically receive my resume or PGPKEY by sending email with a subject // of 'send PGPKEY' or 'send resume'. Capitalization counts so be careful!