Sue Happy

The following stories are just a few examples of how people hold everyone but themselves responsible for their own kids:

A pioneering elementary school district outside Chicago has been sued for installing a wireless computer network by parents worried that exposure to the network's radio waves could harm their children.
According to the complaint (PDF), filed last month in Illinois state court, parents of five children assert that a growing body of evidence outlines "serious health risks that exposure to low intensity, but high radio frequency radiation poses to human beings, particularly children."

The Wi-Fi Alliance says Wi-Fi networks are safe. The radio waves in a Wi-Fi network use the same frequency as wireless home phones, and have one-thirtieth the power of cordless phones, said Grimm, the spokesman for the group.
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2003/10/60769




Incompetent Parents Sue MySpace
Here’s the most interesting claim in the lawsuit filed by parents against MySpace alleging its negligent failure to protect their daughters:
14. Plaintiffs allege and are prepared to show proof that, at all times relevant to the claims alleged herein, said parents were variously too busy, preoccupied, or self-absorbed to attend to their ordinary parenting duties. Alternatively and additionally, the willfullness and independence of their victim children was intimidating and exhausting, for which reason responsibility for defending and guarding the interests of said victims shifted to defendant MySpace.
http://www.techliberation.com/archives/041796.php


By MICHAEL GRABELL / The Dallas Morning News mgrabell@dallasnews.com

The parents of a California teenager who committed suicide after being sexually assaulted by a Celina man she met through MySpace are suing the popular social-networking Web site in Dallas court.
Also Online
Document: Lawsuit filed against MySpace
Link: Tips from MySpace on how users can protect themselves.
According to the lawsuit, the 14-year-old girl, identified as Julie Doe, began a "cyber-relationship" with Kiley Ryan Bowers of Celina in 2005. Their online conversations led to a face-to-face meeting and the sexual assault near her home in Southern California.
Mr. Bowers broke off the relationship several months later, and the girl fell into "a deep depression as a result of the failed, despicable relationship fostered over MySpace," the lawsuit states. She killed herself in July 2006.
Mr. Bowers, 30, pleaded guilty to traveling across state lines to have sex with a minor and was sentenced this summer to nine years in federal prison.
"MySpace knows that it is a haven for sexual predators, yet doesn't put in any security measures to protect young girls," said the family's attorney, Jason Itkin. "We think that with MySpace's right to make a profit comes a responsibility to protect its customers."
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/121207dnmetmyspace.201c77f.html

Parents sue Pi Kappa Phi fraternity
Cal State U.-ChicoThe Orion
(U-WIRE) CHICO, Calif. - The parents of an 18-year-old California State University-Chico student who died of alcohol poisoning last October are suing the fraternity he belonged to for wrongful death, negligence and unfair business practices.
First-year student and Pi Kappa Phi fraternity pledge Adrian Heideman died last fall after drinking an entire bottle of blackberry brandy during an initiation ceremony, according to the lawsuit filed in San Francisco Superior Court.
Now, almost a year after their son's death, Michael and Edith Heideman are suing the national organization Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity, the local chapter of Pi Kappa Phi, and fraternity members Brandon Bettar, Mark Yates, Daniel Santos, Richard DeLuna, Theodore Bloemendaal, Benjamin Hopfer, Sam Dobbyn and Nicholas Sutton, according to the lawsuit.
The Heidemans claim the national and local fraternal organizations are to blame for wrongful death, hazing, dangerous initiation rituals, endangerment and abandonment, improper medical care, failure to supervise initiation events, failure to provide supervision, negligence and unfair business practices.
http://www.illinimedia.com/di/aug01/aug31/news/printer/campus01-printer.shtml

Speaking for the first time since the crash, John and June Aruanno said they don't blame the school district. They have filed a lawsuit against Badke and his father, the owner of the Civic, alleging that the teen was speeding when he collided into their minivan, causing their son's death and the extreme distress of the aftermath."Steven Badke made a decision to go far in excess of the speed limit, and that's what caused him to lose control, Bob Sullivan, the family's attorney, of Mineola, said last week. Badke's family has not replied to requests for comment.The Aruannos aren't stopping there. They will be filing a suit against New York State, claiming that Jericho Turnpike's design and lack of barriers between opposing lanes through Caleb Smith State Park encourages speeding and is an undue risk. There have been four other fatal crashes along that stretch in the last seven years. Yet a 2001 state Department of Transportation study concluded installing a stop light wouldn't improve safety.http://www.newsday.com/news/printedition/longisland/ny-liarua125457526nov12,0,1724809.story


Do we begin to see a pattern here. Someone has to be held responsible in every situation. Parents sue, as if everyone else in the world has an absolute responsibility for a child's safety except the parent. The first story is a beautiful example of frivolous litigation. I'll bet if these parents had to pay for such an action, they would rationalize the venture as too expensive. I like that the entire case is based on no scientific evidence whatsoever. The second example would be comical if it wasn't a shocking display of what's clogging the court system. The parents allege, because they were too busy to watch their children, Myspace became responsible for the child's well being. People want to hold others "absolutely" responsible, especially when "others" are faceless corporations lawyers can extort. But they rationalize their own responsibility away to others. The third example, and another Myspace catastrophe, involves a young woman who meets and has a sexual relationship with an older man online. Where were the parents here? How can your fourteen-year-old have the freedom to meet an older man in the first place? Didn't they ask her who she chatted with? Or who she was meeting? Did they drive her? I don't see how the website is responsible for neglect.

The fourth example is again ridiculous. If your kid makes bad decisions and overdoses on alcohol, why blame the fraternity? Did they force the kid to drink?

The last story reminds me of a case here in Raleigh. This family was struck by speeding teens resulting in their son's fatality. But, for some reason, they want to sue the state, alleging the road needs more barriers and obstructions to slow speeders down. Here in Raleigh, four teens died crossing a bridge at nearly 120 mph. I heard callers on a local radio show actually blaming the bridge, rather than the behavior. It's not the state's fault these people were driving like madmen. The responsibility lies with the person.