[kall]

Originally Posted by The Associated Press

WELLINGTON, New Zealand Sept. 6, 2004 — Air New Zealand on Monday welcomed a U.S. court ruling as vindication of its in-flight education program about the dangers of deep vein thrombosis and ways to minimize the risk of suffering the potentially deadly condition.

Glen Sowry, the national flag carrier's spokesman, commented after the Federal Appeals Court in San Francisco ruled over the weekend that Air New Zealand was not responsible for a clot suffered by one of its passengers, Adriene Rodriguez.

Rodriguez collapsed after her 12-hour flight to Auckland from Los Angeles in 2000. When she regained consciousness, she could not speak or control her right arm, but recovered after hospital treatment and flew to Australia.

Rodriguez sued the airline, claiming it had not done enough to warn passengers over the dangers of deep vein thrombosis, also known as DVT. Further details of her case and the court's ruling were not immediately available.

Sowry said the airline had been advising customers about DVT for years in a program that began long before Rodriguez flew to New Zealand.

The program includes a preflight video urging travelers to exercise during their journey and further advice in the airline's in-flight magazine.

"It is something we have certainly been encouraging customers to do for many, many years," Sowry said.

Aww. Didn't see the Instructional Video? Decide to sue for something that is actually your fault? Bummer.

[jeni2004]

i agree kall some people are soo sue happy these days i swear.

[kall]

It very much reminds me of the guy who played PS2 10 hours a day for months, and had several epileptic fits that made him lose consciousness during that period.

Then, the fifth and final seizure came when he was playing, he passed out and smacked his head on the desk..killing him.

His parents then tried to sue Sony, not only for the emotional cost, but also his future earnings.

a) There are multiple warnings about the propensity of these games to cause seizures.

b) He had had 4 ALREADY.

c) Someone who plays games for 10 hours straight a day is unlikely to have very high potential earnings at all.

[trogg]

Was he at least a Darwin nominee ?

[jeni2004]

Originally Posted by kall

It very much reminds me of the guy who played PS2 10 hours a day for months, and had several epileptic fits that made him lose consciousness during that period.

Then, the fifth and final seizure came when he was playing, he passed out and smacked his head on the desk..killing him.

His parents then tried to sue Sony, not only for the emotional cost, but also his future earnings.

a) There are multiple warnings about the propensity of these games to cause seizures.

b) He had had 4 ALREADY.

c) Someone who plays games for 10 hours straight a day is unlikely to have very high potential earnings at all.

kall see what i mean some are sooooo sew happy these days.

[Sparklechick]

I'm glad that it's a lot harder to sue in NZ than it is in the States.

Some of the stuff they sue for (and win!) is absolutely ridiculous. Like this for example:

A Charlotte, NC, lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars, then insured them against fire among other things. Within a month having smoked his entire stockpile of these great cigars and without yet having made even his first premium payment on the policy, the lawyer filed a claim against the insurance company. In his claim, the lawyer stated the cigars were lost "in a series of small fires." The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason: that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion. The lawyer sued ..and won! In delivering the ruling, the judge agreed with the insurance company that the claim was frivolous. The Judge stated, nevertheless, that the lawyer held a policy from the company in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure them against fire, without defining what is considered to be unacceptable fire, and was obligated to pay the claim. Rather than endure lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000 to the lawyer for his loss of the rare cigars lost in the "fires."

NOW FOR THE BEST PART Later, after the lawyer cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of ARSON! With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used against him, the lawyer was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and was sentenced to 24 months in jail and FINED $24,000. This is a true story and was the 1st place winner in the recent Criminal Lawyers Award Contest.

[jeni2004]

see what i mean sparkle people sue for the dumbest things and sometimes it backfires right in their faces.

[kathy31]

Heh,
Was reading that and was thinking, well done to the guy who insured his cigars...

Obviously now not so in awe of.................

[kall]

There's some damned funny stories out there...google provides all.