Bob, I did forget part of what I was thinking.
In those type of law suits I think the plaintiff and his/her attorney should have to split the cost of the defense's costs should the plaintiff lose. That would make a lot of ambulance chasers think four or five times before taking on a case. It would cause the plaintiff's attorney to do a truly honest evaluation of the legitimacy of the case. I am a massage therapist and I have to carry 3 million in liability malpractice insurance. This does increase my operating costs. I know of several physicians whose malpractice insurance runs them over $180,000 per year. Who do you suppose actually pays for this? There is a Denver attorney named Frank Azar who advertises on TV. The shots show a horrid automobile accident and a (supposed) newscaster saying that "this is a bad automobile accident" followed by a shot of an air medivac taking off followed by a shot of Frankie boy and the newscaster saying "Someone has called in Frank Azar" followed by a shot of good old Frankie at the scene. Now, if this is not ambulance chasing I do not know what might be. (ROFLROFLROFL) Cy, The Anasazi From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Bob Kennedy Sent: Saturday, July 24, 2010 5:39 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] FW: How much is a finger worth? A jury is supposed to be made up of 12 of your piers. So there should have been 12 woodworkers on the jury and they'd have finished the case in a day. I like the idea of having to pay legal costs if you lose. Adds some extra consideration before finding a slick attorney and filing papers. ----- Original Message ----- From: Cy Selfridge To: [email protected] <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com> Sent: Saturday, July 24, 2010 6:18 PM Subject: RE: [BlindHandyMan] FW: How much is a finger worth? Bob, I could not agree with you more. These idiot law suits should be illegal and, furthermore, when the plaintiff looses I am not sure that he should not have to pay the legal costs involved in the defense. Man, that sure would slow down some folks who know that it will cost the company or other person a whole lot to defend themselves even though the case may be hopeless. You are also correct, even if the saw had all of the available safety equipment on it the moron would probably have disabled it as well. How the Dickens did that goof win the case? Cy, The anasazi From: [email protected] <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com> [mailto:[email protected] <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com> ] On Behalf Of Bob Kennedy Sent: Saturday, July 24, 2010 3:47 PM To: [email protected] <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com> Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] FW: How much is a finger worth? This is truly a disgusting reflection on the legal system. To reward some idiot for disabling any safety features that were available is crazy. I've researched this case for an article I am helping write for another list I'm on. For those that don't know the details, here are the important ones. The guy was working for a hardwood flooring company. He was using a "bench top" saw, not on a table or bench top, but on the floor. Next, he was trying to run a piece of 3 quarter inch thick by 2 and a quarter inches wide piece of oak wood through the blade of this saw without any available safety devices. If you read the instruction manual for any saw, they advise having the blade set so the teeth are just above the surface of the wood being cut. Court papers show he had the blade set to 3 inches, almost 2 and a quarter inches higher than recommended, and almost the limit for blade height on that particular saw. All table saw manufacturers recommend keeping the blade guard in place. This one had been removed. Anyone that uses a table saw knows the fence is required to make a straight cut. The fence in this case was not on the saw either. The victim admitted in court, both the blade guard and fence were not in place. Finally, when he started the cut, he said the wood started to chatter so he shut the saw down. He brushed the surface of the table clean and resumed his cut. When the wood started chattering again, he started pushing harder, completely opposite what you should do, and that is when his mishap occurred. In the court papers, he admitted to having operated the saw while on one knee on the floor. A completely off balance position. It is important to note that the law suit doesn't involve the flooring company this guy worked for. This is an attempt to mandate that all saws carry the blade break system in place on the SawStop brand. The model saw used cost $159 from home Depot. A bench top saw is designed to be lighter in weight, and is smaller so it can be used on a bench top. Adding a blade brake would greatly increase the size of the saw, and probably make it unsafe to sit on a bench. Not to mention the fact that you can forget about $159 for a price. The same saw would most likely double in price if not more. If the congress really wants to do something productive, something that would help all of us, they need to put a stop to law suits like this. Suing McDonalds because you are fat, or because their coffee is too hot? When I owned a shop years ago, we were all terrified as business owners when some jerk picked up a running lawn mower and tried to cut his hedges with it. This guy lost his finger tips but sued because there wasn't a warning label saying a mower wasn't fit for trimming hedges. His win in this law suit put a whole company out of business. You can't legislate against stupidity. If I use a machine designed to cut something as hard as oak wood, I know it won't have a problem cutting my fingers or hand off. If I take off the blade guard and fence and still try to cut wood, I deserve any punishment the saw dishes out for being that stupid. Have a problem paying for health insurance? Paying claims like these are what helps boost the cost. ----- Original Message ----- From: Shane Hecker To: [email protected] <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com> <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com> Sent: Saturday, July 24, 2010 4:35 PM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] FW: How much is a finger worth? I thought this was interesting. Shane Feed: Productopia: The ConsumerSearch Blog Posted on: Saturday, July 24, 2010 8:02 AM Author: Catherine Jo Morgan Subject: How much is a finger worth? How about a hand? Do table saw <http://www.consumersearch.com/table-saw-reviews> manufacturers have an obligation to use the safest technology available? The first jury to consider this question -- in a civil lawsuit against the maker of Ryobi table saws -- answered quite a definite "yes," to the tune of a 1.5 million dollar award <http://www.boston.com/yourtown/malden/articles/2010/03/06/man_wins_15m_in_f irst_of_its_kind_saw_case/%20> to the plaintiff. read <http://www.consumersearch.com/blog/how-much-is-a-finger-worth-0?utm_source= RSS <http://www.consumersearch.com/blog/how-much-is-a-finger-worth-0?utm_source= RSS&utm_medium=RSS> &utm_medium=RSS> more <http://rss.consumersearch.com/~ff/product-reviews?a=RST_N4bUEek:Ijc4TGBBRpI :yIl2AUoC8zA> <http://rss.consumersearch.com/~ff/product-reviews?a=RST_N4bUEek:Ijc4TGBBRpI :qj6IDK7rITs> <http://rss.consumersearch.com/~ff/product-reviews?a=RST_N4bUEek:Ijc4TGBBRpI :V_sGLiPBpWU> <http://rss.consumersearch.com/~ff/product-reviews?a=RST_N4bUEek:Ijc4TGBBRpI :gIN9vFwOqvQ> <http://rss.consumersearch.com/~ff/product-reviews?a=RST_N4bUEek:Ijc4TGBBRpI :F7zBnMyn0Lo> <http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/product-reviews/~4/RST_N4bUEek> View <http://rss.consumersearch.com/~r/product-reviews/~3/RST_N4bUEek/how-much-is -a-finger-worth-0> article... 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