Saw what is copied below in the newspaper today. Obviously, this is a personal tragedy for this woman and it is hard not to feel sorry for her situation.

BUT, where is personal responsibility? Do stories and accidents like this lead to less access to rivers in general?

And, my quote from Shakespeare notwithstanding, the lawyer is (probably) only responding to market demand.

Clearly, as paddlers, I expect most people would say that they expect to take responsibility for their actions and would never think about suing a city, state, etc. if an accident occurred. But, what about in other aspects of your life.

What do folks think?

Bellingham sued over swimming hole injury

By The Associated Press

BELLINGHAM — The city of Bellingham has been sued by a woman who was paralyzed in a fall at a popular swimming hole.

The lawsuit filed last month says the city knew the whirlpool area of Whatcom Falls Park was used by swimmers and failed to post conspicuous warning signs.

Katie Hofstetter fell two years ago while climbing on rocks and broke her back, leaving her without the use of her legs. The suit seeks money for her medical care and disability.

The city parks operations manager, Marvin Harris, says large signs near the park entrances advise there are no designated swimming areas. He says smaller signs inside the park have been torn down.

Firefighters have rescued injured people from the creek five times in the past two years.

arn9schaeffer@gmail.com (remove 9 for my real email address)

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Just hearing about this makes me want to go swim there! Can I sue the press for informing me about the swimming hole after I get hurt, I would have never swam there if they hadn't advertised it as a swimming hole. (Stupid Press)

Nomad

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Good one Leif. I like it!

"I used to be somebody, now I'm somebody else." Bad Blake

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Our society tends to not let us take personal responsibility. Hence all the labels on things like window cleaner telling you not to spray it in your eyes etc. Hopefully the courts in Bellingham will see through this shallow case.

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on a side note, there is some video of big bad devin smith running that same drop that the chick got messed up on. chris t made the video. it comes at 1:35 in the clip. the rest is just good ole' b-ham whitewater....

http://vimeo.com/163478

j

Edited by jondufay - 11 Dec 2007 at 9:19am

ahh, f--- it dude, lets go boating...

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As I said in my initial post, I don't think that lawyers, in general, are really the problem here and I'd view you as the good guy if you are defending against this nonsense.

Why do you think this case has stronger legs than most?

Edited by arnobarno - 11 Dec 2007 at 11:44am

arn9schaeffer@gmail.com (remove 9 for my real email address)

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Ya, unfortunately frivolous lawsuits happen quite often. There needs to be a law put in place that monetarily punishes those that bring these to court......but what would be the criteria for that?

My main concern with some kind of sweeping legislation to remedy all of this is that legitimate lawsuits will be very hard to prosecute. If a public/private entity really f*&k's up, they need to learn a lesson the hard way, and that is usually through a lawsuit.

Corporations view business through a cost/benefit analysis and some will cut corners because the savings will be greater than the potential lawsuits. If you drastically cut the chances of a lawsuit, you can see what will happen.

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I say, the loser of the decision pays everone's legal fees in the case.

Damn, arn. beat me to it.

Edited by septimus prime - 11 Dec 2007 at 1:43pm

Jon Shell Bee

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Looser pays is one of those great ideas that few support, because no one really knows where they will wind up (loosing or winning) if our legal system sees that big of a change.

It is kind of like the immigration issue. Until recently, no one (on either side of the political spectrum) wanted to talk about illegal immigration, because no one was really sure how it would impact the bottom line of their existing base in the hispanic community. Because neither side new whether they would win or loose, little happened of consequence until the last mid-term election when the issue was elevated by the voters as a cornerstone in this current presidential election.

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Originally posted by leifkirchoff

I guess I am a bit puzzled by all this "kill the lawyer" mentality. After all, lawyers give predominately to the dems (over 75%), which I would guess, given the political sensibilities of the kayaking community, would make kayakers love lawyers.

What am I missing?

Well, the title was given by Arn who is a righty....errr Libertarian so I don't know if you can subscribe that line of thought to everyone here. I think most people see the silliness of this lawsuit and are reacting to that.

Personally, I despise corporate interests bribing politicians to vote certain ways so the fact that lawyers bribe disproportionately to Dems doesn't make me anymore inclined to like them.

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I'm at the trends trade show in seattle right now and I'm so bored, someone come visit my booth and shoot me! So sleepy...............zzzzz........so bored...............

Nomad

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Unfortunately, that was my fault...

Nomad

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Small claims court filing ... $35 dollars
Driving to Issaquah      ... $15 dollars
An hour of my time      ... $100 dollars

Making Kemper Freeman, Jr drag his fat ass into small claims court ...
                               Priceless

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