Should a Good Samaritan Be Sued?

[Ground_Breaker]

Re: Should a Good Samaritan Be Sued?

Wait. You're proposing the women is sexist?

No, not at all. I don't think sexism has anything to do with any of this.

[sarahxjane]

Re: Should a Good Samaritan Be Sued?

Although I have no idea what it's like to be paralyzed, I think I'd rather be alive.

What is the world coming to, seriously?

Suing people who are trying to help you.

How the hell could the person know that there would be complications afterwards?

[Ground_Breaker]

Re: Should a Good Samaritan Be Sued?

How the hell could the person know that there would be complications afterwards?

Well, they couldn't. The debate supposedly is (and I'm just playing devil's advocate here) that he/she should have waited for professional help to arrive, whether that be an ambulance or a fire engine or whatever. The co-worker who pulled her out said that he/she was worried that the vehicle she was trapped in would catch fire, but I'd imagine the prosecuting attorney would at some point say something like, "This person is obviously no expert in car crashes, and there's no way to tell if a car is going to catch on fire, so no action should have been taken."

After watching the news video again, I heard something near the end that I apparently just ignored out of frustration the first time around. It was something about how the backlash of the California Supreme Court's decision to allow the litigation to proceed was so great that they're considering rewriting certain laws to give more leniency to good Samaritans. It was comforting to hear, but I'm still in disbelief at how this woman is able to live with herself knowing that she could have died in that wreckage, but is alive and well (and, apparently, still obtains enough mental faculty to pursue a lawsuit) thanks to her co-worker, but despite that, she has the nerve to sue the person who saved her.

[EnR]

Re: Should a Good Samaritan Be Sued?

What if she waited for professional help and the prof. ended up paralyzing her... Would she have sued the ****ing professional?

[devonin]

Re: Should a Good Samaritan Be Sued?

Last I heard, you can be sued if you see someone in need of assistance and -don't- offer help. That sort of legislation came out of things like the guy who just stood there like a tool and filmed Rodney King getting beaten.

Which basically says to me that the law -wants- you to try and be a Good Samaritan so I utterly cannot see this case actually working out for the plaintiff.

The other side of the coin though, is that you -can- be sued if you are actually a qualified professional and you give aid like that and the person suffers for it. There are stories of people who've been shot, stabbed etc stumbling up to a hospital, and the doctors refusing to step outside to help them because they'd be personally liable if something happened to them, and actually requiring an ambulance to drive over, pick them up, and bring them into the building.

[Zybanthia]

Re: Should a Good Samaritan Be Sued?

Last I heard, you can be sued if you see someone in need of assistance and -don't- offer help.

I thought something like this was in place as well.

But anyway, this lawsuit will almost certainly NOT fly with a judge. The Good Samaritan law protects those who decide to help out. Granted, it differs from place to place, and I'm not quite sure of how it works here, but I doubt this lawsuit will make it anywhere.

EDIT: Fudge, this happened in California. In California, Good Samaritan laws are restricted to emergency medical care.

[wienerschmidtzel]

Re: Should a Good Samaritan Be Sued?

This is why you don't help anyone.

"Sorry, you're being burned alive grandma, I just don't want to risk being sued."

If she's really that unhappy with the outcome why doesn't she just give herself 3rd degree burns all over her body?

[devonin]

Re: Should a Good Samaritan Be Sued?

In Canada, a case like this would almost certainly be thrown out if the prosecution couldn't prove outright malicious intent. And to do that, they'd have to basically prove that he WAS an expert in emergency medical treatment in car accidents, because that's the only way he could know that it was maliciously harmful to move her, which defeats the whole claimo fthe case anyway, being that he should have waited for experts to arrive on the scene.

But then, the US legal system is based around the idea that absolutely anybody can bring absolutely any case before a judge and have it heard. There was that guy, I forget his name now I want to think he was a senator somewhere in the southwest, who recently sued God for the sole purpose of showing how important it was to protect everyone's legal right to appealing to the justice system.

There's a great stipulation in the Canadian legal system that I think every nation should adopt and that would severely impact the number of frankly ridiculous lawsuits in the United states, namely: If I sue you, and you win, I'm on the hook for my legal costs, your legal costs, and potentially an additional fine for wasting the time of the court.

[Professor Raine]

Re: Should a Good Samaritan Be Sued?

Just goes to show how much the American way is messed up.

I mean, it has it's good parts, but the way people act when it comes to lawsuits is just sick.

[Nyokou]

Re: Should a Good Samaritan Be Sued?

Something similar happened to one of my friends this past summer. He got sued for sexual offense by one of his "friends" about a month before graduating just because the bitch needed money to pay for college expenses. And she won.

It's really sad just how despicable people are.

[stretchypanda]

Re: Should a Good Samaritan Be Sued?

But anyway, this lawsuit will almost certainly NOT fly with a judge. The Good Samaritan law protects those who decide to help out. Granted, it differs from place to place, and I'm not quite sure of how it works here, but I doubt this lawsuit will make it anywhere.

This. Even in a state with loose Good Samaritan Laws, this shouldn't hold up. It is unfortunate that someone can't just appreciate the good fortune they've had and instead have to focus on the negative outcome of an event.