Comments on: Litigation over a falling fat guy at Shea Stadium enters year four

By: Josephina Roley

Josephina Roley — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 03:17:55 +0000

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By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:52:17 +0000

Sound like the same “experts” who looked at videotapes of Terry Schiavo and concluded that the deliquescent puddle collecting at the bottom of her skull was nearly conscious. And why not? I used to play chess with our backyard fishpond.
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I wonder if it will be the contention of New York experts that submission to gravity necessarily implies inebriation. If the defense is sufficientl soulless, it will trot out a couple of quantum physicists to dispute that testimony. Should be a helluva case. I wonder if there’s any precedent for a jury voting in its sleep.

By: Z

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 17:22:16 +0000

Craig–
The NJ case was quite strict, and NY in the past has allowed for experts who did not witness the incident and have note even examined the individual (what value the examination would be 4 years later is another question) to testify as to the fact that someone who acted in this way would have been visibly drunk. It’s an uphill battle in this case, but it’s not as hard as you’d think.

By: Frank

Frank — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:29:38 +0000

Reminds me of the Steve Dallas comment “never sue poor people”.

By: Craig Calcaterra

Craig Calcaterra — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:50:30 +0000

Z — you still have to establish that the dram shop, as it were, served a drunk person or that the person was even drunk during the incident. How do they do that here?

By: Z

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:49:09 +0000

Come now, Craig, surely you also learned about dram shop liability in law school? I’m not sure what the NY laws are, but the NJ laws are pretty strict, and there was a fairly high profile case against the Giants not that long ago for a similar incident. If all you can think of is common law liability, it’s no wonder you had to give up the law for a life of blogging. (Oh how I envy your ability to do that from my biglaw office…)

By: D-Luxxx

D-Luxxx — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:23:23 +0000

My favorite part of the article was this little tidbit.
Massey only recently learned the name — she originally sued him as a “John Doe” who “had been acting in a rowdy, boisterous and dangerous manner for a long period of time” before he crashed into her and ran off.
The image of a 300 lb man running off into the sunset is kind of hilarious.

By: Wooden U. Lykteneau

Wooden U. Lykteneau — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 14:36:14 +0000

I think the best thing about the Post story is the way they portray one of the Mets’ defenses — a boilerplate contributory negligence allegation — as the kind of thing only a souless and heartless victim-blaming monster could concoct.

Wait – a Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid overreacting and misinterpreting facts in order strictly to sensationalize?