The family of former Major League Baseball pitching sensation Mark S. Fidrych has filed a wrongful death and product liability lawsuit over his 2009 death, at age 54, while working on a dump truck at his Northboro home.
Mr. Fidrych, who was named the American League Rookie of the Year in 1976 as a 21-year-old pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, died from accidental asphyxia by suffocation on April 13, 2009, after his clothing became entangled in the power takeoff shaft of his 1987 10-wheel Mack dump truck, according to authorities.
...Her lawyers, Ralph S. Sbrogna and Roger J. Brunelle, allege in the lawsuit that the truck Mr. Fidrych was working on at the time of his death was negligently designed, manufactured and marketed and was in “a dangerous or defective condition” when sold.
The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages for conscious pain and suffering and wrongful death under claims alleging negligent design, manufacture, marketing and sale; negligent failure to warn and instruct; breach of implied warranty of merchantability; and negligent sale, service and repair.
...In their answers to the suit, filed May 16, Mack Trucks and Ballard Mack Sales & Service denied the allegations and raised 13 affirmative defenses, including assertions that the suit was barred by the statute of limitations and that Mr. Fidrych’s own negligence was greater than any on their part.
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1. Drew (Primakov, Gungho Iguanas) Posted: July 24, 2012 at 06:03 AM (#4190595)*groan*
Nevermind, a woodworker who lost some fingers when he was improperly using a saw that didn't have this technology, with the guards and splitter removed, sued the manufacturer successfully because they did not use the available technology to compensate for his stupidity and carelessness. It's created a major uproar in the woodworking community.
I can't speak to the specifics of the woodworking industry, but I think making workplaces and machinery safer is generally a good idea. Call me crazy.
Article doesn't make clear whether this is state or federal, and I don't know much about civil suits either way... but I'm guessing statute of limitations is coming up.
I'm not sure that anyone except maybe #1 was claiming that about the Fidrych case. It's just that preposterous lawsuits (especially lawsuits that are obviously preposterous but nevertheless successful) piss off just about everybody and tend to stick in our mind, plus there is a general sentiment (correct, in my estimation) that present society is over-lawyered, so anytime a negligence lawsuit hits the news it sparks a new round of anecdote-swapping and "boy, I'm sick of these frivolous lawsuits!" sighing.
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