The Blame Game

[roadwreck]

Okay, this story just ticked me off.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/nl...r-lawsuit_N.htm

Has it really gotten so bad that people really can't take responsibility for their own actions? Or in this case, their son's stupid actions?

Recently a Pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, Josh Hancock, was killed in a car wreck when he crashed into a tow truck that was assisting a disabled vehicle in the early morning hours of April 29th. Hancock, was drunk, not wearing a seatbelt, talking on his cell phone and had marijuana in the car. So what does his father do? Sue's everyone he can think of.

I saw a similar story yesterday and didn't think much about it. Filing suit against the bar doesn't surprise me that much. I know that happens all the time, do I think it's right, no. But this suit doesn't stop there. He is suing the driver of the vehicle that was stalled in the road for being 'negligent in allowing his vehicle to reach the point where it stalled on the highway' and he is suing the tow truck driver for not putting out flares and not moving the disabled vehicle in a timely manner. WTF? Your drunk, high, distracted son crashed into stoped vehicle. Even if the tow truck driver did put out flares a drunk and stoned Hancock probably would've seen flares, thought someone was making s'mores, and driven right into them.

Why can't people just accept the facts sometimes? Yes, it is tragic to lose a loved one, but the accident was caused by a number of factors, and could have been avoided if Hancock had taken actions to prevent himself from being behind the wheel and impaired. Take some responsibility for your actions people.

 

[RIP - VTEnviro]

I have a similar personal story:

I had a friend die a in a car wreck a few years ago. He got into the car with a drunk driver who was known to be reckless driver at the best of times. Add to that he didn't wear his seatbelt. They were doing 80-90 in a 30, hit a rock, and all the passengers were ejected.

This guy's parents filed suit against the driver, who survived. That's fair.

They also sued the bar these guys were at, a diner they stopped by, and the owner of a house where they had been hanging out for serving alcohol (they were all over 21) to these guys. Seriously.

This guy made some dumb choices and paid for it. Tragic and regrettable to be sure. But somehow his parents making such a fuss and going overvoard seems to tarnish this guy dying.

I'm not surprised about the Hancock story. Everyone wants to point the finger at everyone but themself.

 

[jeb6294]

Why did you have to post this? I hadn't heard about. I could have finished out a short Friday before a 3-day weekend in a good mood.

Somebody needs to hit this guy in the head with a ball peen hammer. Taxpayers should be allowed to countersue these people for wasting everybodys time and money on ridiculous stuff like this.

I'd love to find some sort of contact info so I could send this guy a note saying "Sorry your son died, but he died because he was an idiot"

 

[MA_PE]

The fundamental reason that these parties bring these lawsuits is because our judicial system LETS THEM.

With respect to Hancock, I've got to believe it is motivated by money. The guy was a professional ball player. I don't know the details of his contract but even schmucks make $500k/year in MLB. The father was probably enjoying the good life with his kid being a pro ball player. At 29 he still had a least few years left. The income is now lost, so money will heal the pain of losing a son prematurely. Also the leeches (lawyers) will push a case like this forward and probably convinced the father to file, because getting a chunk of a settlement on someone else suffering is how they make a living. ("fairness" and "justuice" don't need to come into the equation).

My take on VT's story is that the parents are looking for someone... anyone to blame for thier son's death. I can't imagine big money being involved here unless the parent have deep pockets. A jury can award whatever they want, collecting is a differeent story. However, getting confirmation that someone is to blame by getting compensation from another party might provide some solace. Not much, but some is better than none.

Yes the whole thing stinks from all sides.

 

[roadwreck]

I'd love to find some sort of contact info so I could send this guy a note saying "Sorry your son died, but he died because he was an idiot"

Your reaction was pretty much the same as mine when I first read the article. I would love someone to smack some sense into this guy, short of that I'd be happy just sending the SOB an email giving him a piece of my mind, but that would probably just end with me being named in the lawsuit too for harasment and further emotional trama. I may have already said to much just posting my feelings about this online....

lusone:

 

[RIP - VTEnviro]

^ You could just send him a personalized Cards jersey with the number .157 on the back.

 

[roadwreck]

^^ so I'm guessing .157 was his blood alcohol content? He was a pitcher, so that number seems way to high to be his batting average.

 

[Road Guy]

I love to play the blame game, of course I have been on the wrong end of the pointing finger for most of my career .

The blame game is a prominent part of engineering, generally played best by old farts PM's who never do any QC on their projects, traffic engineers, and surveyors.

Surveyors could make good politicians, most I have met have never made any mistakes!

 

[roadwreck]

I love to play the blame game, of course I have been on the wrong end of the pointing finger for most of my career .

Alas, I have yet to be at the right end of the blame game. lusone:

 

[RIP - VTEnviro]

There was a guy at my last job, who had a saying: "He's a great engineer, just ask him."

I've found the blame game mainly comes from the mid-corporate level management. Not the big guys making the hard business decisions, but above the level of the technical managers.

They collect a big paycheck, don't bill out a single hour, and spend all their times in meetings trying to restructure market sectors and mission statements. Major league dead weight.

 

[Road Guy]

you just described the chief engineer at a place where me and roadwreck used to work.

I actually have a pretty good scar in my back from an unsuspecting knife attack that he and another worthless out of usefullness guy tried to hit me with.

 

[roadwreck]

you just described the chief engineer at a place where me and roadwreck used to work.
I actually have a pretty good scar in my back from an unsuspecting knife attack that he and another worthless out of usefullness guy tried to hit me with.

Lucky for me, being a low-level functionary in my time with that particular company, I could only be blamed with trivial matters. There are advantages to being the bottom of the barrel you know.

 

[MetroRAFB]

Getting back to the original post, the sad thing is that the father will most likely win some coin form some or all of the aforementioned parties. The judicial system may be the best in the world but it's still jacked up. I think that it should be a foregone conclusion that if you sue someone and lose, you're responsible for any and all costs they incurred defending themselves.

Speaking of jacked up, is there anyone in the US Senate that's not campaining for President? Is there anyone in the US Congress that gives half a care about anything except getting reelected? I think I'll start an illegal immigration thread.............................

:15: