[tkcomer]

I see where Mason County has given an undisclosed out of court settlement to the uncle of an inmate that died at the Mason County Landfill. First off, since this is taxpayer’s money, I don’t see how the county could hide this settlement from the public. Number 2; I don’t think the uncle should have gotten anything. The inmate snuck off when a landfill employee turned his back. The inmate was seen driving the ATV recklessly and he wrecked. And was killed. The uncle has sued everyone involved, including the maker of the ATV. He still has a lawsuit against the landfill operator and the maker of the ATV. These types of lawsuits tick me off. The inmate screwed up. He is responsible. He is at fault. This is one of the reasons the cost of doing business in this country is so high. And this case didn’t even make it to trial. The uncle was just given an “undisclosed settlement.” In my opinion, if you misuse a product in any way and you get harmed by your misuse, you should forfeit any right to sue.

[gleroyjr]

i agree tkcomer, my tax dollars going down a rathole. i still would like to know the amount that was paid out.

[tkcomer]

That’s another thing that ticks me off. The GOVERNMENT gave him something. How can politicians stand on TV and say we need to put a stop to these baseless lawsuits and our county just rolled over and gave in? What these lawsuit happy people are doing is nothing short of extortion. I still cannot understand in my wildest dreams how these juries across the country award these people money for such stupidity.

[mark]

........I couldn't agree with you more!!! I know why the settled, the county doesn't want to wind up in court. However, we ALL know from reading tk's post he's guilty, but the folks suing knows the liberal juries gives whopping awards to the idiots in our society.
That's a lot of the problems right there. The judge & jury should throw these kinds of lawsuits out, period! If they would start doing that these type of stupid suits won't get into court.

Is the county records open for public viewing?? If so, shouldn't this be on the spreadsheet?? Hmmm, yeah right.
I'm sure it's covered up -- hidden in the real set of operating books they DON'T want you to see..............see ya Mark

[tkcomer]

Mason County is not exactly a liberal county. That’s what blew my mind when the county rolled over. I swear I don’t understand the people that serve on these juries. They seem oblivious to the fact that their actions have driven up the cost of doing business in this country. And those awards do come out of their pockets because lawsuits like this drives up the cost of insurance for all businesses. This is not some evil corporation trying to hide a defective product. This is a case where a person screwed up and the family wants to profit from it.

[navywife]

I have a question --why in the world was the uncle allowed to sue for an INMATE death when really there was no wrongful death --it was an accident caused by the inmate --correct me if I am wrong --I thought it had to be proven to be a wrongful death ---

[tkcomer]

You have a point. We have no idea was brought up or what was discussed. I did see where the lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice, whatever that means. One can only guess at the accusations the uncle’s lawyers used. But I’m still disappointed that our local courts did not do everything in their power to overthrow this lawsuit.

[mark]

...........I wonder what ever happen to "accountability for one's actions" in this country anymore??

If I were the judge, I would do everything possible to "throw" this one out.........see ya Mark

[Eddie]

I would agree with most of the post here, with only one small exception. Even though the inmate was just that, an inmate, he would have had to be considered an "employee" as long as he was working at the landfill. That fact entitles the Inmate to the same OSHA standards as any other "paid" employee at the landfill. With that said, there was likely some violatoins involving the use of moterized equipment, and if I had to guess, and that's just what I'm doing here, I'd bet there was no formal training program in place for the equipment being used. Now I know everyone is going to yell that it was a very simple piece of equipment...However I'm sure there was an owner manual that discussed the roll over risk that came with that equipment. If nothing else, the owners manual should have been used as a training tool and a signed training documented issued and filed as part of the OSHA regulation entilied "Training Awareness and Competence. Understand, you can't just train an employee, you must have a system to prove they are also competent, which usually involves some form of testing. This is very important when it comes to the operation of moterized equipment.
Maybe all those things were done, I can't say. But I'd bet that's where the settlement came in to play.

[tkcomer]

I’ll agree to that, to a point. You don’t put a person on a dozer that has never operated one. And the inmate had been driving this ATV without incident before. It wasn’t until the landfill employee turned his back that he took off flying and wrecked. A company can give you all the training in the world on a piece of equipment, but they can’t prevent an idiot from killing himself due to gross misuse. Common sense says that he screwed up. It was an accident he caused by driving recklessly. He is at fault. And no one should profit from his mistake.

[Eddie]

TK, Your viewing it from a "common sense" approach. Take it from a guy who deals with OSHA on an almost daily basis, the term Common Sense is no where in their regulatoins. As I was once told by an OSHA inspector, while I was arguing your same point, "you have to protect people from themselves". If peole can get hurt, regardless if it's their fault or not, it's the companies job to prevent it. With that said, you and I both know how uneducated the average jury in the US is today. They will award $1,000,000's to some one who spills hot coffee on themselves. The County attorny knows that and just figures it would be cheaper to pay up front than allow a jury to decide how much to pay later. Besides, the settlement was likely less than what court cost would have been to fight the suit.
I'm not disagreing with you at all, just looking at it from a diffrent view.

[bubbysgarage]

I just have one problem with the Uncle's lawsuit, why in the world sue the manufacturer of the ATV? It wasn't the ATV's fault he wrecked and got killed, it was his own. Correct me if I am wrong but if the ATV manufacturer gives him a settlement does that mean that my husband and I can sue Kawasaki for my husband having a wreck and doing close to $30,000.00 worth of damage to his left wrist and right shoulder? If you want to see what is left of the bike look at our webpage. I will warn you its not pretty and was not taken at the scene of the accident. If the Uncle is suing everyone involved does that mean we can also sue the insurance company for not covering a penny of our damages (the insurance salesman gave us the cheapest rate and didn't offer anything more). Let me know what you think. I would like to know what this world is coming to. First an obese person sues McDonalds then a smoker sues the cigarette company, what next?

[tkcomer]

I can remember a guy getting killed at our company back in the early 80s through sheer stupidity. He tried to slide down an I-beam to go to break and fell about 40 feet if I remember right. No investigations, no fines, no warnings to the company because you can’t stop someone from breaking all the rules if they so choose. The employee knew he was not supposed to do that, but did it anyway. It’s the same case here. The inmate knew better but chose to disobey the rules. He never intended to wreck, but then again, no one ever does. It’s still his fault. His own doing. No one else is responsible but him. And I’m fully aware of OSHA. Their one-size-fits-all rules can be a real pain.

[mark]

..........I'll tell you where it's headed next. Everywhere until juries gets some common sense & throw these silly ambulance chasing lawyer's lawsuits out.

Remember, when you turn the light on in the morning & it doesn't work, sue GE, their bulb didn't work causing you to slip on the floor in the dark. Whoops?? while you're at it, sue the carpet maker because it wasn't laid correctly. Why not sue the carpet layer, he's at fault. No, why not sue the home builder because the carpet was there instead of hardwood floors that are in your house plans. That's not right, why not sue the man who owned the farm your house was built on?? He must be at fault because the house wasn't built ...............well...............you getting the picture.


When 12 "bleeding hearts" are on the jury, be pleased, you'll win.
So,
Just when are these juries going to quit looking at this type of nonsense?? ...........see ya Mark

Three questions:
1. Did anyone ever stop to think that one must know all the facts before placing judgement. We only know what the newspaper decided to publish. We do not know the entire story of the accident or the lawsuit.

2. If the deceased were one of your family members would you feel the same?

3. Has anyone considered the fact that a family member or someone very close to the deceased and his family may be a subscriber on this forum and may be very hurt by reading some of these posts?