Passing the Buck and the Hat

Has anyone else noticed that everything wrong that happens these days seems to be somebody else's fault? We seem to have acquired a mentality that everyone and everything is expected to work perfectly and, when it doesn't, somebody must have screwed up. Accidents just don't happen anymore.

Take, for example, the two recent airline disasters. The NTSB will spend years and millions of dollars to investigate the cause of the crash off Los Angeles. Sure, there's alot to be said for discovering problems in aircraft so that those problems can be rectified and accidents prevented in the future. On the other hand, is there anything wrong with simply recovering the dead, burying them and moving on?  How much money do we need to spend to find someone to blame?

In my practice, I see many people who have had accidents and whose first reaction is to run to their lawyer, expecting to get rich. This is truly deplorable. You may recall thesensational case some years back where someone won millions of dollars against McDonald's because they had burned themselves with hot coffee. I must have received six calls from people who thought they had won the lottery because someone in some restaurant had spilled coffee on them. Likewise, anyone that trips and falls on a sidewalk, in a mall or anywhere, it seems, never stops to consider that maybe they tripped over their own two feet.

The legal issue is liability. The fact that you have been hurt does not automatically mean that somebody is liable. What if you were walking at 6:00 a.m. and you slipped and fell on the icy sidewalk in front of your neighbour's house? Is your neighbour liable? And if so, for what damages?

Assume that the ice is a result of a storm which occurred at 2:00 a.m., just four hours earlier. You fall and became a paraplegic. Obviously, you have suffered enormous damages. However, your neighbour would be liable to you for nothing, because he is not expected to have the ice cleared off the sidewalk within four hours of the storm. This situation is a true "accident", where nobody is at fault.

Assume now that the ice is a result of a storm which occurred a week ago, and the city has a bylaw requiring homeowners to clear the sidewalks within 24 hours of a snow fall.  Assume that you fell, but you did not injure yourself any more than a small bruise on yourhip. Your neighbour would likely be 100% liable, but your damages would be nil.

The point is simply this: if you are injured, you may have a lawsuit. There are often very short time periods to start a lawsuit, so do get legal advice quickly. Just don't come inwith a big grin, expecting me to tell you that your retirement is now secure because Patsy at the diner dumped some coffee down your back.