OT - Google Directions

[elocomotive]

So I heard on the radio today that a woman is suing Google because she was hit by a car after getting walking directions from Google. (Story

)

Needless to say, this is a ridiculous lawsuit and will likely get tossed b/c the woman simply could have looked before she crossed the street, something most people learned somewhere between "don't eat that" and tying your shoes.

They mentioned on the radio that Googling walking directions from Seattle, WA to Honolulu, Hawaii includes the following instruction - "Kayak across the Pacific Ocean - 2,756 miles." I thought that was hilarious and invite you all to enter it in. Pretty funny, and apparently Google estimates this trip to take 37 days and 14 hours (I'm assuming that is mostly the kayaking, haha).

 

[BOSSMANPC]

There have been similar storied using GPS systems. I saw one where a person made a turn onto railroad tracks because the GPS told them to do so.

It will probably get tossed but you wonder about people using common sense and not follow directions that are obviously wrong.

Like my mom used to say, "if so and so told you to jump off of a bridge would you do it too". Old line but very true.

 

[jstewismybastardson]

on google street view, my house doesnt show well ... my garage is pre-reno so its exposed building paper ... plus I have about 15 clear garbage bags of lawn cuttings piled up at my driveway, 2 of which were ripped apart by crows so the clippings are everywhere on the sidewalk

I should sue

 

[BOSSMANPC]

on google street view, my house doesnt show well ... my garage is pre-reno so its exposed building paper ... plus I have about 15 clear garbage bags of lawn cuttings piled up at my driveway, 2 of which were ripped apart by crows so the clippings are everywhere on the sidewalk

I should sue

If you need a hand keeping kids and crows off the lawn just give a holler. I'm good at that.

 

[postmaster]

just another dumb lawsuit. Just like this one:
Woman sues airline after 4-hour tarmac slumber | freep.com | Detroit Free Press
Ginger McGuire, 36, is suing for false imprisonment, infliction of emotional distress and negligence, her attorney, Geoffrey Fieger said this morning.

The flight from Dulles International Airport in Washington arrived at Philadelphia International Airport shortly before 12:30 a.m., according to Fieger. A cleaning crew discovered a dozing McGuire, locked her back in and then brought in federal officers concerned about terrorists to question her.

False imprisonment because you fell asleep and didn't get off the plane? What a bunch of crap. Lawsuits get more rediculous by the day.

 

[forty_three]

There have been similar storied using GPS systems. I saw one where a person made a turn onto railroad tracks because the GPS told them to do so.

My father in law nearly drove up onto the boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland at the command of his GPS.

I think the GPS' have become self aware and are plotting to kill us all, one clueless old person at a time.


If you map anywhere in the US to Paris, it tells you to go to Boston and swim. At least it used to.

 

[TOX1]

haha wow..

After they dismiss her ridiculous case, the judge should completely embarrass that stupid bitch in front of the whole court. He should give the dumb ass like a thousand hours of community service picking trash and cig butts off the streets like the cons have to do.

 

[bonham]

haha yeah i heard about that the other day..she is obviously a big time idiot..how difficult could it be to walk somewhere if you have a map of the place

 

[elocomotive]

haha wow..

After they dismiss her ridiculous case, the judge should completely embarrass that stupid bitch in front of the whole court. He should give the dumb ass like a thousand hours of community service picking trash and cig butts off the streets like the cons have to do.

He/she may do just that. Judges are generally pretty awesome. Like this one in Florida who used a creative resolution to squabbling lawyers who couldn't decided on a deposition location.

 

[pixburgher66]

i hate lawsuits in general. people wonder why insurance costs skyrocket and it's expensive to get any sort of medical work done? because america is SO FREAKING SUE-HAPPY that everyone has to be worried about these things. i shouldn't have to worry about serving someone coffee that is hot and them suing me because i never told them it was hot. it's ridiculous...and not only that people do sue companies, but that the law system is so corrupt that it AGREES with these nimwits. the worst by far is the people suing mcdonalds because their children are obese. so stupid.

 

[elocomotive]

i hate lawsuits in general. people wonder why insurance costs skyrocket and it's expensive to get any sort of medical work done? because america is SO FREAKING SUE-HAPPY that everyone has to be worried about these things. i shouldn't have to worry about serving someone coffee that is hot and them suing me because i never told them it was hot. it's ridiculous...and not only that people do sue companies, but that the law system is so corrupt that it AGREES with these nimwits. the worst by far is the people suing mcdonalds because their children are obese. so stupid.

I have a couple thoughts on this because this post represents (a) a common conception by most Americans and (b) is completely wrong.

For starters, I read a study on rising health care costs a couple years back and it cited that increasing health insurance costs were influenced by malpractice/law suits to the tune of about 5-6%. It's a minor factor in rising health care costs - a significant factor for sure, but it's not even in the top 5 reasons for rising costs. Somehow, it has made it into the public's perception that this is the top reason, which is wildly inaccurate.

Second, the McDonald's coffee case you cited was totally legit and the public's perception of it is TOTALLY inaccurate. For a long time, McDonald's has sold their coffee at a higher temperature than most fast food chains. They sell more coffee b/c of it, it brings traffic through the doors and they sell more breakfast sandwiches, etc. because of it. They've been sued TONS of times over coffee that is too hot over the years and the cases are always settled b/c McDonald's would lose every single one. Essentially, McDonald's uses this formula...

Profit from coffee sales at higher temps - Lawsuit settlements > Profits from coffee sales at lower temps

Companies make these decisions all the time. It's a business decision and they accept that the costs from litigation and settlement are worth the increased profits the company makes. If you want to learn the real facts, this is a good explanation.

There are absolutely too many law suits out there, though some tort reform and expanding alternative dispute resolution is changing this, but part of the problem is the media coverage. You see a headline for someone suing for some obscene dollar amount and it makes all the headlines, but the headline for the judge throwing out the case or the person getting $3,200 in their million-dollar suit is not a sexy headline.

It's one of many areas in our society where public perception is sharply out of sync with reality.

 

[pixburgher66]

okay, so they sell it hotter than most. while i find that to be wrong, i don't think that some woman should be given a large sum of money (one which exceeds anything necessary) because she didn't know coffee was hot. the only change that came from that was a little not saying 'contents may be hot'. most people also shouldn't put hot coffee in their crotch. while i agree there is certainly corporate corruption in the works here, i think much scarier and sadder part is the overall effect suing has. people fall back on it too often. heck our children say 'my dad's gonna sue you!' in what they think is a resolution of a problem. i have certain moral disagreements with the concept of suing to begin with. my uncle works for a insurance company that insures churches and the like (schools, etc.) and some of the stuff he has to negotiate is so wrong....and it's against churches. there's liability and there's stupidity...the line has become far too faint.

 

[Comeds]

Second, the McDonald's coffee case you cited was totally legit and the public's perception of it is TOTALLY inaccurate. For a long time, McDonald's has sold their coffee at a higher temperature than most fast food chains. They sell more coffee b/c of it, it brings traffic through the doors and they sell more breakfast sandwiches, etc. because of it. They've been sued TONS of times over coffee that is too hot over the years and the cases are always settled b/c McDonald's would lose every single one. Essentially, McDonald's uses this formula...

I read a lot about that case too, well the reasonably famous one. In my opinion anyone that ever makes fun of that case doesnt know their facts or/and are extremely cold hearted.

The woman was in the hospital for eight days and received skin grafts to help with 3rd degree burns she received. She didn't sue for tons of cash, she initially asked for something like $25000 to help cover medical cost and McDonalds kindly offered her $800. Thats when the case went further.

McDonalds, despite being warned numerous times, was serving coffee around 190 degrees which can give you a very serious burn in seconds. In the trial McDs claimed that they sold it so hot because people took it to work to drink later. Of course that was a lie as McDs own research told them the majority of people drank it in their cars on their commute. Oops, someone should have buried that report deeper.

the only change that came from that was a little not saying 'contents may be hot'

Thats not true, McDs coffee cups already had the warning on their cups. As they should have, because hundreds of people had been burned and scaled in the years before this case. McDs said even though there were hundreds of accounts of people being burned it was still an insufficient number for them to make changes. Oops again.

She was awarded so much because they found McDs guilty of corporate negligence, which they certainly were, and wanted to penalize them. Would 500 bucks penalize a multi-billion dollar corporation? Of course not. So after playing with numbers (at one point the lawyer asked for a couple days revenue from just coffee sales and that alone was a couple million) they arrived at the $640,000 amount.

And they deserved to be fined and punished every bit of that amount IMO. If they can make millions on coffee alone each day and ignore hundreds of complaints in order to more quickly brew their coffee (thats why I heard it was so hot, some quick brewing system) then they can afford and deserve this penalty. Which of course they appealed and got reduced anyway.

I am not a big fan of lawsuits, especially frivolous ones, but some of these are the only ways companies are ever held accountable.

 

[pixburgher66]

well, than i'm clearly guilty of not knowing enough about the case. i hate big corporation as much as any average person, i guess i let my disdain for sue-happy america get the best of me. apologies.

 

[naslundfan19]

Perfect video for this thread:

 

[Maverick426h]

okay, so they sell it hotter than most. while i find that to be wrong, i don't think that some woman should be given a large sum of money (one which exceeds anything necessary) because she didn't know coffee was hot. the only change that came from that was a little not saying 'contents may be hot'. most people also shouldn't put hot coffee in their crotch. while i agree there is certainly corporate corruption in the works here, i think much scarier and sadder part is the overall effect suing has. people fall back on it too often. heck our children say 'my dad's gonna sue you!' in what they think is a resolution of a problem. i have certain moral disagreements with the concept of suing to begin with. my uncle works for a insurance company that insures churches and the like (schools, etc.) and some of the stuff he has to negotiate is so wrong....and it's against churches. there's liability and there's stupidity...the line has become far too faint.

So, what objects would you say are crotch worthy?

 

[Comeds]

I know the reputation of sue happy America, but I personally have never sued anyone or even know someone close who ever sued another person.

However even in elementary school 35 (yikes!) years ago we would threaten that our parents were going to sue someone. The classics never die I guess.

Also if anyone ever gets an email about goofy lawsuits that goes around every so often for the last 10 years; they are all made up and fake. I think there was one about someone spilling a drink in a store, slipping on it and suing the store. Fake. Another, and my personal fave, was a robber who got stuck in someones garage and had to eat dog food while the family was away. He sued for pain and suffering. Ofcourse it too was a made up story, but a good one.

 

[Comeds]

I dont have to worry about coffee in my crotch because I wear asbestos underpants.

 

[pixburgher66]

well, here's a brief story i know to be true (uncle lawyer story). a young girl who attended a private christian school out in california was out at recess with the rest of her class. she was holding open the gate and part of her fingers got caught in the gate. there was no immediate adult supervision on this particular child and she did lose the tips of 3 fingers i believe. the parents were suing upwards of 350k's. for finger tips. i mean...it's like nothing is safe i guess. i remember recess...big area, and a few aids were around to keep us in line...kids get hurt, i guess i just can't imagine suing a church for that much money over something that didn't affect the child's ability in the least.

 

[Gooch1034]

I just had to go play with Google maps and to walk from somewhere in Maine to San Diego, it would take you 41days and 21 hours to walk the 3,146 miles and I doubt they take rest/sleep into account. It also said that I should use caution because the route may be missing sidewalks or pedestrian paths. I am sueing!