Articles Posted in Negligence

The two brothers who were attacked by a tiger at the San Francisco Zoo are now filing a claim against the city of San Francisco, alleging negligence and defamation.

The brothers, Kulbir and Amritpal “Paul” Dhaliwal, along with a friend, 17 year-old Carlos Sousa, Jr., were attacked Christmas Day of this year by a 250-pound Siberian Tiger at the San Francisco Zoo. Apparently, the tiger scaled the walls of its habitat and viciously bit and clawed the three boys, seriously injuring Kulbir and killing Carlos. The tiger was eventually shot and killed by the police.

At first, the blame seemed to be placed on the boys’ shoulders. The Zoo claimed the boys taunted the tiger maliciously, causing the tiger to become so distressed it attacked. In fact, the Zoo was so convinced the attack was the boys’ fault that, despite the intense emotional and physical trauma experienced by the boys, the Zoo impounded their car and considered pressing charges against them for over a month.

Injuries associated with amusement park rides always leave me a bit uneasy, and I find I am reminded of them any time our State Fair comes to our Sacramento home or when my family pleads with me to go to Disneyland. Recently, a lawsuit has been brought against a Six Flags Theme Park located in Kentucky. In this amusement park case, a 13-year old girl, Kaitlyn, was severely injured while on the Six Flag’s Superman ride. According to the case, one of the cables on the ride broke off, hitting Kaitlyn and severing off both of her feet.

The young girl felt the cable whip against her body and instantly smelt a foul, burning odor. She was taken to the hospital and doctors were able to reattach one, but sadly not both, of her feet. Kaitlyn and her family are suing the amusement park for “failing to maintain the equipment and to ensure rider’s safety”. So far, the amusement park has denied any liability in Kaitlyn’s accident. However, the ride has been shut down and dismantled since the date of her injury.

Amusement park injuries are more common than we would like to believe. In 2005, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission put out a report that listed 15,000 injuries that occurred in the United States as a result of an amusement park ride. Amusement parks have the responsibility in maintaining a safe environment for its patrons and workers. If they fail in this regard, they may be found negligent and thus, liable, for any injuries that occur.

Two airplanes almost collided south of our Sacramento home on Thursday at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The first plane, a WestJet, carrying 132 passengers was flying in from Canada. The second, a Northwest jet, carrying 150 passengers, was taking off. Reports state that the Northwest jet was traveling about 150 mph when the WestJet plane got in its way. Luckily, the WestJet plane was able to come to a stop before the two crashed into one another.

The dangerous mistake was made by both the WestJet pilot and the ground traffic controller for LAX. Reports state that the WestJet pilot was on the wrong radio frequency and could not get directions from the air traffic controller. When he was approaching the gate, the ground traffic controller cleared him without checking first with the air traffic controller.

No one was hurt in this close call. This accident could have been detrimental to many. If there was a crash and a subsequent lawsuit, the negligence of both the controller and pilot would probably serve as the cause. Some are questioning if their negligence should be taken into accountability regardless of no great harm happening.

A lawsuit is being tried south of our Sacramento home in Los Angeles, California. A group of twelve Central American workers are suing the fruit companies, Dole and Standard, along with chemical companies, Dow and Amvac, after being exposed to dangerous amounts of pesticides. Eleven of the twelve men are now sterile, claiming that the high level of pesticides caused their infertility.

It’s an the first time an issue like this has been at the center of a dispute. The pesticide, DBCP, was used throughout the 1970s and has since been banned in the United States. Other complaints have been registererd throughout time on matters that relate to this one. Plaintiffs claim that Dole carried out a number of intentionally dangerous activities, such as spraying the pesticides when the manufacture recommended mixing it into the soil and using 10 gallons of pesticide a year rather than the instructed 1 ½. Actions as these often take place because of disrespected for safety regulations.

Dole has several defenses, stating that very little of the chemical was used only once or twice year (a tablespoon amount) and that the infertility in the workers could be due to other problems (such as excessive drinking and gonorrhea).

A terrible accident occurred at a local radio station in our home of Sacramento, California. 107.9, a popular station playing contemporary music, held a contest on their show which challenged contestants to drink as much water as possible without urinating during a live event.

The final winner, a woman by the name of Jennifer Strange, drank more than two gallons of water during the contest. Tragically, within hours of returning home, Jennifer died from water intoxication.

This instance did not occur without warning. During the contest, Jennifer spoke very slowly and complained of a headache and feeling lightheaded. Some people even called in to warn the two disk jockeys that people can die of water intoxication. The DJs stated that at the time they believed people were trying to sway the outcome of the contest and they brushed off the suggestions.