Spot the Tort

Dangerous Highway Conditions: More Rolling Torts

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One of easiest and most common potential torts to spot if you like to play “Spot the Tort” (i.e., identify conditions around you that may present unreasonable danger of harm to persons or property) is a form of a dangerous highway condition that we at lawhaha.com call “rolling torts.”

These are ubiquitous. Why? Because people often need to move large objects, but lack the proper vehicles and/or trailers to move them down the road.  Here are couple of recent ones a Facebook friend pointed out. Lawhaha.com is loaded with other examples of rolling torts. Samples include this one, this one, and this one.

 

 

Tips for How NOT to Move a Washer and Dryer

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At lawhaha.com, we love what we call “rolling torts,” also known as “accidents waiting to happen.” A rolling tort consists of an effort to move large objects via a vehicle in a way that creates an unreasonable danger to other motorists.

Courtesy of a former student, here we find a valiant effort to transport a full-size washer and dryer with a compact car. To the driver’s credit, the elaborate straps show a solid effort to arrive at the destination without disaster.

More rolling torts can be found scattered through these pages, including here, here, and here.

Wet Baseball Field? No Problem. Set it on Fire.

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People frequently ask me, What makes for a good lawyer?  “Problem-solving skills” is the first answer that comes to mind. Do you possess them? Take this test and see.

Problem: A high school baseball game is scheduled. Unfortunately, the field is wet from heavy rain. How do you solve this problem?

Answer choices:

(a) Play the game on the wet field because what’s the big deal with that?

(b) Recognizing that a wet field risks injury to players, make your best efforts to squeegee off or soak up the water.

(c) Recognizing that (b) would be too much freaking work, cancel the game and reschedule it for when the field is dry.

(d) Pour 24 gallons of gasoline on the field and set the damn thing on fire.

(d) was the choice made at a high school baseball field in Connecticut, turning the field into a toxic mess that will cost an estimated $50,000 to clean up. The town posted the news on its Facebook page, generously taking responsibility for the incident: “A poor decision was made … to ‘dry the field quicker’ and 24 gallons of gasoline was poured and set on fire.”

If you picked (d), congratulations! You should avoid law school (please), but have potentially positioned yourself to be an influencer for a major oil company.

Spot the Tort: Non-Tortious Neighbors are Good Neighbors

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Do you ever take strolls around your neighborhood and find yourself appalled by the risky, tortious conditions residents leave on the sidewalks in front of their homes.  A couple weeks ago I passed a house with a pile of boards spilling onto the sidewalk bearing long, upward-turned rusty nails sticking out.  It’s a popular neighborhood where people like to walk, including at night.  I was tempted to knock on the door and explain duties of care and premises liability, but only had an hour, so instead just moved the worst offending boards off the sidewalk.

Then a couple days ago I came upon my new favorite neighbor’s house.  This is a thing of beauty.  Look at the reasonable care they exercised to protect sidewalk travelers, so awesome it earns Tortman’s Good Neighbor of the Month Award.  I would not be shocked if a lawyer lives there.

But you might be thinking, “Oh, Tortman, you’re lost in law professor land.  You worry too much.  People don’t really step on rusty nails on the sidewalk and sue people.”  In rebuttal, I refer you to Pittenger v. The Town of Hamilton, decided by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 1833.  The court held for a plaintiff injured by an upturned nail in a board left next to a sidewalk because “it was so near the traveled portion of the walk or street as to endanger travel thereon.”

Spot the Tort: “I’m Fixing a Hole Where the Rain Gets In”

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… and your foot and, if it keeps growing, your dog, child, small automobile.  Walking in Memphis is always entertaining and exciting, especially if you like to spot potential torts.

In fact, according to authentic Chamber of Commerce statistics that I am making up, there are more torts on the streets and sidewalks of Memphis than annual Graceland visitors.

I came across this interesting one taking a walk in Midtown.  The hole itself is interesting, sort of like a little sinkhole, but the pole sticking out of it what grabs one’s attention, as well as the bottom of your automobile.  As always, questions abound.  Were they trying to put a stop sign in the middle of the street?

Diabolical Slip and Fall Combo – Ice and Banana Peel

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Thanks to a former student at the Florida International University College of Law for spotting this particularly diabolical slip and fall risk.  As if ice or banana peels weren’t risk enough by themselves, here we get a combo.

Slip and falls are no laughing matter.  According to OSHA, they cause 15 percent of all workplace deaths.

Ice is a lot more dangerous than banana peels, but people do slip on banana peels, and not just in cartoons.  One of lawhaha.com’s most visited posts is this death certificate for a poor fellow in Tennessee, noting that shortly before his death, he slipped on a banana peel.

–Thanks to Armando Torres.

Spot the Tort: Another Rolling Tort on the Highway

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Another Rolling TortHere’s another “rolling tort”; i.e., a dangerous condition on a road or highway.

We look at these things lightly at Lawhaha.com, but large objects that come loose from a vehicle present a substantial risk of injury or death to those traveling behind.

Other examples of Rolling Torts are here, here, and here.  Or just sift through the entries under “Spot the Tort.”

–Thanks to Larry Peters.

Lawn Darts for the Torts Museum

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[Great News. The Torts Museum accepted my invitation. My lawn darts will be safely displayed in the museum’s “Dangerous Toys” section.]

When I first heard the news about Ralph Nader’s new American Museum of Tort Law, my first thought was, “Awesome!  A Torts Museum.”  My second thought was, “My lawn darts!  They belong there.”

In case you missed the news, the Torts Museum opened last month in Nader’s home town in Winsted, CN.  The museum offers a history of American tort law, with exhibits covering everything from the infamous McDonald’s hot coffee case to the even more infamous Ford Pinto exploding gas tank fiasco.

I bought my lawn darts about twenty years ago at a garage sale.  Never used.  No dirt or even bloodstains.  Pristine.  I knew it would be selfish for me to keep enjoying them, like hiding a Rembrandt in a private studio.

Lawn darts were banned by the Consumer Product Safety Commission in 1988 on the basis that their risk outweighed their social usefulness.  The Commission reported three deaths associated with lawn darts from 1970-1988 and an estimated 700 annual emergency room cases. Then-Commissioner Anne Graham explained the Commission’s risk-utility analysis (which my current first-year students will recognize as Judge Hand’s famous formula for negligence):

What limited recreational value lawn darts may have is far outweighed by the number of serious injuries and unnecessary deaths. This week another child was severely injured by a lawn dart. She is now in critical condition. There are numerous alternatives to lawn darts, and I would urge adults who have lawn darts to throw them away now.

The most amazing aspect of my set of Jarts is that the packaging doesn’t include a single warning.

Most Exciting Outdoor Game TodayLawn Dart Headed Straight For MomTo the contrary, it touts lawn darts as “The Most Exciting Outdoor Game Today.”  No doubt.  Nothing like a screaming ambulance to liven up the neighborhood.

Best of all, it was a game for the whole family, except … oops, that missile on the cover appears headed straight for mom!

The Consumer Product Safety Commission’s original notice of the ban “urge[d] consumers to discard or destroy all lawn darts immediately” and instructed them to call the Commission’s hotline if they find any still for sale.