-
Posts
-
-
First off, I have to say this is a terrible situation for everyone involved and I hope I’m never in a similar position. Still, it’s a little hard to understand that this is the best way to handle things.
Basically the guy (Landon McGauley) was very seriously injured during an MTB race at a resort when he was 15 years old. He sued the resort but they turned around and claimed his parents were responsible, I guess because they signed a consent form or whatever. Now, in order to proceed with the suit against the resort he has to add his parents to the lawsuit, though I’m guessing that during the trial his lawyers will do their best to put all the blame on the resort and not the parents.
What do you guys think? Who is responsible here?
-
Quote from the article: “He says he lost control of his bicycle due to unsafe conditions and poor construction of the race track, including unstable ground and excessive moisture.”
So the trail was loose and wet, and he’s suing the resort and his parents? I mean, it sucks that the guy is a paraplegic now, but I think he’s at fault. Accept the risks and the consequences of your actions, or don’t mountain bike.
-
Except he’s 15, which at least in the US, his parents are still responsible for him. Not to mention a blood sucking lawyer will try to get money wherever they can.
-
- I agree with Greg, this is ridiculous. Yes, he was 15 and his parents are responsible for his wellbeing, but if parents are held legally liable for any accident that befalls their children, then this sets a precedent that could create a culture where parents daren’t allow their kids to do anything with any element of danger, climb trees, ride bikes, swim in the sea.. and then what kind of childhood would they have?
-
Unsafe conditions? Is that really a thing with riding a bicycle. You ultimately are in charge of the direction (or should be), ride within your limits.
-
That’s pretty low. No. Really low. I hope he realizes this is not his parents fault and that this could negatively affect him for years to come.
-
It is probably a planned way to get around legal restrictions. There was a lady a year or so ago who sued her husband’s estate for wrongful deaths to collect insurance she was not allowed to collect herself, and she was the executor of the estate so in essence sued herself. She won and collected the money.
-
Yeah, it sounds like it’s all part of a legal strategy that his parents have tacitly endorsed. Gotta love lawyers. 🙂
-
This is pretty typical in the insurance world, particularly with car accidents, where the injured needs to sue the car owner/insured to get access to a claim. In this case, the parents are one of several insurance holders, so in order to gain access to coverage from someone else, suing is the standard mechanism. Sounds distasteful, but it is how insurance is accessed. We are all way over-insured anyways, so I see no issue in leveraging that back when a claim is legit.
Counter suits (resort suing parents) is pretty standard as well, both as a deterrent and as a means of passing the buck (literally). If the injured kid was over 19 he would likely have been counter sued as well (known as ‘indemnification’ in legal speak, included in most waivers you and I sign). Beyond the public eye, insurance companies are suing each other all the time to get back any payouts they had to make. They do all they can to avoid paying anything. Insurance are the bad guys here, not the lawyers or the catastrophically injured kid.
As for the ‘assume the risks or don’t bike’ that only goes so far. When one is looking at a lifetime of medical and living expenses and no way to pay them, there aren’t many options are there? Assuming the risk does not mean ‘able to pay the bills’.
-
****As for the ‘assume the risks or don’t bike’ that only goes so far. When one is looking at a lifetime of medical and living expenses and no way to pay them, there aren’t many options are there? Assuming the risk does not mean ‘able to pay the bills’.
******
Im not buying that. We all do things in life and realize how bad it could be. think of it, we have all taken small jump or slid out in a turn and crashed. then said… Oh wow. that could have been worse than just a scrape. You have to think of the same thing when taking on big nasty wet trail. If you don’t, you must not be thinking about what you are doing. Granted we may not think about life without legs, but its not the fault of the resort you rode past your limits. This is the biggest problem with society… “its not my fault” is the common theme. Find someone else to blame. Oh and by the way society, there are plenty of paraplegics in the work force…
sorry for your condition.
-
Parents raising too many snowflakes now a days. Maybe parents do need sued if they did this poor a job raising their kid.
How bout that for a different twist to this thread
-
-
Man what a shitty situation.
Thanks for speaking some sense on it Jacksoj.
-
Click-bait’ish title. Kid sues resort, resort puts parents on notice for liability, now the kid has to add them to the suit to disprove that his parents are responsible. Yay litigations…
-
Wow, so if you participate in a dangerous sport and crash it’s somebody else’s fault? Ski resorts in Colorado have immunity from these lawsuits by law, or else they would all be out of business from the lawsuits. They are probably covered for the summer season bike parks and trails under same law. Resorts have no control over mother nature. Sorry he got hurt though.
-
Liability waivers are unenforceable scrap paper in California.
-
AGAIN personal responsibility goes out the window. Parents and kid made a choice to compete in mountain biking. Kids will not get hurt if more parents made them sit on the couch and watch TV. I used to chase my kids out of the house and push them to do physical things, even activities that might get them injured! I still do now that they are young adults, last summer I had them hiking and biking through the mountain trails in Colorado. I hope they don’t have an attorney on retainer! Problem is these frivolous lawsuits will continue and will only discourage events of any kind where the little darlings can possibly get boo boos.
-
Did any one actually read the article!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you didn’t, you shouldn’t be commenting, unless of course you stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
He sued the resort for holding the race in unsafe conditions, the resort’s laywer invoke a law claiming third party responsibility, naming the parents. By the law now the kid has to sue his parents first. The Kid’s lawyer is suing the parents with the intent of proving them not responsible so the suit against the resort can continue.
-
By the law now the kid has to sue his parents first.
Or he and his parents could just drop the lawsuit entirely. I’m guessing they feel very strongly that they have a case against the resort, strong enough to risk losing a judgement against themselves.
-
-
That’s the point I was making too Jeff, parents allowed there kid to participate in a risky sport. Then sue when they don’t like the outcome. Take responsibility for your actions….
-
So we know for sure it was completely the kids fault, the course conditions weren’t unsafe and the resort and promoters should not be sued?
-
So we know for sure it was completely the kids fault, the course conditions weren’t unsafe and the resort and promoters should not be sued?
I get what you’re saying, and I’m with you that judging situations like this isn’t really fair since none of us have all the facts.
Here’s a question for the group: Is mountain biking ever truly safe? Who is responsible for deciding whether or not it’s safe to ride a trail or to head out in unfavorable conditions? (OK, that second question is clearly a setup, but the first one is genuine.)
-
I’ll just leave this right here…
Opinion: Accept the Risks and Be Self Sufficient, or Don’t Mountain Bike
-
So we know for sure he was coerced into riding?
We know for sure it wasn’t a free and voluntary choice?
-
“So we know for sure he was coerced into riding?
We know for sure it wasn’t a free and voluntary choice?”
Using fractured axioms is not a valid argument. If the course managers cut safety corners to save money it wouldn’t matter if he was coerced or not, but you do bring up the point, he may have been coerced in some way. Thanks for supporting my position.
“I get what you’re saying, and I’m with you that judging situations like this isn’t really fair since none of us have all the facts.
Here’s a question for the group: Is mountain biking ever truly safe? Who is responsible for deciding whether or not it’s safe to ride a trail or to head out in unfavorable conditions? (OK, that second question is clearly a setup, but the first one is genuine.)”
Good response.
Of course no one mountain biking, or just walking from your living room to the bathroom, is truly safe. But there are reasonable expectations as to how much risk is likely. As far as whether there should have been a lawsuit or not, it is not up to us to make that decision, even if we had all the facts, and we certainly do not anywhere near all the facts.
-
We over-value human life to the point of absurdity. Stephen Hawking says that the human species will need to find a new home within one hundred years. I’m hoping for sooner and/or total annihilation from some aliens that squash us like the vermin we are. Everybody dance now!
-
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.