Victims: They're costing all of us a lot of Money

When I see what looks like a miscarriage of justice I have to at least read a little farther. This time I won’t identify the newspaper, although I’m pretty sure many local people would agree with what I’m going to say, at least to a point.

So what’s this miscarriage of justice? Who’s the victim? Walmart.

What? Walmart? Only the very biggest company on the planet? (I’m not sure they’re the biggest but they gotta be close.) And, yes, that company is the future victim, that is if the “victims” who are suing get their way. I’ll explain.

Last spring sometime a young boy threw gasoline on an already-lit grill. Yes, he got burned, and kind of bad. I am sorry for that boy, but come on—throw gasoline on a grill? And from a gasoline can, a can made for carrying gasoline from one place to another, not for encouraging fire and heat on a grill.

Under certain really important circumstances I “might” have used gasoline, even knowing the absolutely awesome explosive power of the fumes from gasoline, but I wouldn’t have used the can. (And something to remember: It isn't exactly the liquid that burns but the fumes. While it appears the liquid would have reached its destination, the fumes are still trailing up and back into that can for at least a couple seconds.) Anyway, had I been foolish enough to do it, I would have poured a very small amount into an open can, like a juice can. That method would at least give me a chance to throw and then get backed away in time before the explosion, but using a gasoline can with a neck, as this young boy did, in my mind, there was no chance to get away at all. And maybe he didn’t even have a clue as to what was going to happen.

OK, the boy was only thirteen years old. He hasn’t sailed around the world yet, alone, on a sailboat, so we can forgive him for not knowing what was going to happen, but I do wonder if he had seen someone else use gasoline in such a fashion…? His dad? His mother? An uncle? That list could go on and on, but I really think that at some time he has witnessed somebody else do that, or something very similar…and get away with it.

The boy was hospitalized for about a month. Burns covered much of his torso and portions of his arms. Man, I really feel for this kid. The possibility of getting burned scares the hell out of me. (When I die I’d like to be cremated but getting burned kind of bothers me. A friend told I wouldn’t feel a thing. Well, I wonder how he knows?) And the boy still has to wear compression garments to protect his burns.

But here’s the reason for this hub:

This family has found an attorney who will help them sue the manufacturer of that gasoline can for not installing what’s called a “flame arrestor” in their gas cans, also that the company should have a warning on the can that…what? That gasoline can be dangerous? Come On!

Was that thirteen-year-old going to read that warning? Not if he’s like most thirteen-year-olds.

The case began in state court, then moved to a US district court. The lawsuit is “…seeking damages on grounds of negligence and claims the product was defective…” Oh yes, and they’re also suing Walmart “…on nearly the same grounds, arguing the retailer should know that gas cans that don’t have flame arrestors are dangerous…”

Amazing! Gasoline is dangerous. Who knew?

Alright, I’m being a bit sarcastic here. I am sorry for that boy. He didn’t know what he was doing. Victims are born every day. They get hurt, they sue, and quite often they win, and end up costing the rest of us higher prices on everything. I point to the sign on a ladder saying “This is not a step.” Or “Take the baby out of the carriage before closing the carriage.” I haven’t seen that second sign but I’ve heard about it.

Before I close I’d like to mention a couple of auto accidents I’ve read about in newspapers. In one a young girl was driving, the car struck a “rut” in the road, the passenger (a much younger girl) was killed in the accident. The family sued the city for not fixing that “rut” and won. A lot. First, that young girl driver will have this memory for life. Will that money from the lawsuit help her feelings? Maybe, because it wasn’t her fault. It was the city’s fault. And something not mentioned in the article…was this young girl driver yakking on the phone while driving? Or maybe texting?

The other accident occurred maybe two miles out of the city. A college student girl pulled up to a stop sign on a US highway, stopped, and then pulled into the path of an approaching semi. She was killed. My thoughts, again: She came to the stop sign, she stopped, and then, distracted by yakking or texting, she didn’t see the approaching semi (or maybe she “did” see it but being distracted, the facts didn’t connect in her mind) so she pulled onto the highway and got killed.

The city, or county, or whoever claims that intersection, first considered a four-way stop. (Now remember, this intersection is far out in the country and the speed limit is still 65.) So, no, a four-way-stop is out. Instead, they’ll build a roundabout.

Sure, that will take care of that problem.

Whether either of these drivers were texting or yakking was never mentioned so we’ll never know. And I suppose the grieving families don’t necessarily need info like that. But out here in Cyberworld I felt free to complain about the growing legions of “victims.”

What I’m getting at, folks, we don’t live in Disneyland. This is the real world out here, and at some point we have to learn to take care of ourselves, and our problems, and not expect somebody else to pay our way and/or do it for us.

Sorry, fellow hubbers, this is about the fourth “downer” hub of mine recently. I’ll try to get more upbeat in the near future.