Responsibility

[worm]

except the part where there's a law suit going on because the person who got injured thinks that it was the responsibility of the householder to give warnings of danger.

[worm]

Neil: I've heard you disregard court findings before, and I can understand why, but here you are assuming the outcome on the basis of a quick to print newspaper report that says f**k all.

[rabid]

It already says in the article, she turns up at a party she's not invited to, gets drunk

[kingjamma]

Does it?

[rabid]

I think it says something along the lines of she admits that she was tipsy but was in complete control of her actions.

[diddly-dee]

All assumption. All put into a pre-existing narrative that you have in your head about the prevalence of American sue culture. The British media at work. Well done. Get that anti-American sentiment going.

There may have been a faulty or uneven floor, she may have been duped, she could have been pushed, there could have been oil lying around, they may have told everyone that it was shallow. Anything could have happened. But lacking such details, look at the prejudices and assumptions that it's fed.

[worm]

If the floor had been uneven, or she was pushed in or whatever then I would expect this to have formed the central substance of her claim (unless she has particularly incomepetent legal counsel - not unheard of admittedly).

[diddly-dee]

I was illustrating the fact that you don't know the specifics. I wasn't inviting us to consider them. I was showing that we've got f**k all to consider.

Have you seen the film 12 Angry Men? I always think of that when I come across threads like this.

[worm]

Yes, a great film. And nearly matched by the 'Minder' version of it where Arthur was on jury duty and arguing for the acquital of a n'eer do well of 'the manor'. Priceless.

[kingjamma]

No it doesn't. Shit, I knew people got sucked in by the media but this is quite scary.

[rabid]

Ah shit, I quoted this from what I remembered from the article without going back and I just re-read it and saw that it was the host that said that not the girl. My mistake.

[eFestivals]

Neil: I've heard you disregard court findings before, and I can understand why, but here you are assuming the outcome on the basis of a quick to print newspaper report that says f**k all.

the only "outcome" I've "assumed" is that *IF* the case is successful, the law is an ass.

As ever, your imagination runs riot.

[jump]

So you're misquoting and jump and others just making stuff up, you can see what worm is on about.

[Ed209]

Ok, so the law should hand more responsibility back to the individual, and IF this girl just jumped in then she's a bloody idiott. but am I the only one who thinks that if you're going to have a pool that you let guests use then you should have a sign up telling them how deep it is, or alternatively if you don't want a load of teenagers to use it when you're out, then lock the bloody door.

[jump]

Ok, so the law should hand more responsibility back to the individual, and IF this girl just jumped in then she's a bloody idiott. but am I the only one who thinks that if you're going to have a pool that you let guests use then you should have a sign up telling them how deep it is, or alternatively if you don't want a load of teenagers to use it when you're out, then lock the bloody door.

[eFestivals]

but am I the only one who thinks that if you're going to have a pool that you let guests use then you should have a sign up telling them how deep it is, or alternatively if you don't want a load of teenagers to use it when you're out, then lock the bloody door.

Then every car needs to have danger signs on the front of it - after all, they're responsible for far more deaths and injuries than swimming pools. Likewise there should be danger signs every five yards along every road.

We accept that the dangers of cars and roads are recognisable without the needs of signs. For your idea to hold good, I reckon you would need to be able to demonstrate how the dangers of swimming pools aren't recognisable in the same way.

It used to be the case that for a householder to be successfully sued that the sue-er would have to prove deliberate negligence for would could sensibly regarded as an unexpected hazard, tho I'm unsure if that's still the case in law now. But if it is then the girl who is suing hasn't a hope in hell of winning this case if everything in the story is accurate, as nothing about the hazards of swimming pools can sensibly be regarded as unexpected (particularly in the case of a competent adult, as it is in this case).

[Ed209]

She already spent 30 mins in the pool so if she can't figure out if it's a safe diving depth from that then a sign would do sod all.

[eFestivals]

If I owned a pool that guests were using then I'd make sure my ass was covered on the legal side of things, and if that meant spending a fiver to put a sign up then I'd bloody well do it.

I'm pretty sure that there's no legislation which says a private pool has to be signed as a danger - in which case the householder's arse was covered without need of a sign.

[Ed209]

I'm pretty sure that there's no legislation which says a private pool has to be signed as a danger - in which case the householder's arse was covered without need of a sign.

[rabid]

[jump]

Where's that quote from, can't see it on either the Mail or the Telegraph article.

[rabid]

Telegraph

[jump]

Another article then. Fair enough but the other Telegraph article says

and I still can't find anywhere that says the injured girl was drunk.

[rabid]

That article is from last year before the court hearing started, I may have read it in another article but it was something along the lines of her drinking in the pub but not by the pool. I'm using a different computer from last week as I wanted to look at my history to find the she was already in the pool before diving quote again.

[Gre]

This seems to have been going on for ages, but the verdict is out today - judge ruled in favour of the pool owner. Quite right too imo.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-14387945