Joshua
10-31-2003, 06:52 AM
* From News of the weird.
* Former Ball State University student Andrew Bourne, 23, and his
parents filed a lawsuit in September against the school and the
manufacturer of its aluminum football goal posts. Bourne suffered
a broken leg and vertebrae when, during a raucous end-zone
celebration after a 2001 victory over the University of Toledo,
students pulled down the goal posts, hitting Bourne. [USA Today,
9-30-03]
(N) John Clayton III was awarded $1.5 million by a jury in
Greensboro, N.C., in September based on injuries he suffered as a
passenger in a car whose driver had to slam on the brakes to avoid
a collision. The car Clayton was a passenger in was a police car; he
was being brought to the station on an outstanding arrest warrant
when the officer-driver hit the brakes. Clayton claimed the sudden
stop caused him "back problems." [Charlotte Observer-AP, 9-28-
03]
* Kevin Presland was awarded about the equivalent of US$150,000
by a judge in Sydney, Australia, in August because the Hunter Area
Health Service psychiatric hospital released him too soon in 1995,
after which he killed his brother's fiancee. This was not a lawsuit
by the victim's family against the hospital; this was a direct payout
to Presland, whose injury was that he was made to suffer temporary
prison conditions after his arrest (he was acquitted because of his
psychosis), whereas if he had never been released, he would have
experienced only psychiatric-hospital conditions. [The Australian,
8-20-03]
* Former Kansas City Royals coach Tom Gamboa filed a lawsuit in
September against a fan who attacked him during a September
2002 baseball game in Chicago, and also against the ballpark's
(U.S. Cellular Field's) security firm and its concessionaire.
(However, several days after the initial attack, Gamboa had told the
Associated Press, "The fault is with the two people [the fan and his
minor son] who did it. I'm not one who looks to [spread] blame.
It's nobody's fault but the two idiots who did it.") [San Francisco
Chronicle-AP, 9-19-03; Sports Illustrated-AP, 9-24-02]
* Former Ball State University student Andrew Bourne, 23, and his
parents filed a lawsuit in September against the school and the
manufacturer of its aluminum football goal posts. Bourne suffered
a broken leg and vertebrae when, during a raucous end-zone
celebration after a 2001 victory over the University of Toledo,
students pulled down the goal posts, hitting Bourne. [USA Today,
9-30-03]
(N) John Clayton III was awarded $1.5 million by a jury in
Greensboro, N.C., in September based on injuries he suffered as a
passenger in a car whose driver had to slam on the brakes to avoid
a collision. The car Clayton was a passenger in was a police car; he
was being brought to the station on an outstanding arrest warrant
when the officer-driver hit the brakes. Clayton claimed the sudden
stop caused him "back problems." [Charlotte Observer-AP, 9-28-
03]
* Kevin Presland was awarded about the equivalent of US$150,000
by a judge in Sydney, Australia, in August because the Hunter Area
Health Service psychiatric hospital released him too soon in 1995,
after which he killed his brother's fiancee. This was not a lawsuit
by the victim's family against the hospital; this was a direct payout
to Presland, whose injury was that he was made to suffer temporary
prison conditions after his arrest (he was acquitted because of his
psychosis), whereas if he had never been released, he would have
experienced only psychiatric-hospital conditions. [The Australian,
8-20-03]
* Former Kansas City Royals coach Tom Gamboa filed a lawsuit in
September against a fan who attacked him during a September
2002 baseball game in Chicago, and also against the ballpark's
(U.S. Cellular Field's) security firm and its concessionaire.
(However, several days after the initial attack, Gamboa had told the
Associated Press, "The fault is with the two people [the fan and his
minor son] who did it. I'm not one who looks to [spread] blame.
It's nobody's fault but the two idiots who did it.") [San Francisco
Chronicle-AP, 9-19-03; Sports Illustrated-AP, 9-24-02]