You can't do anything nice

[Blue Sky]

It is at night. Someone comes knocking on my door in the late hours I'm not going to be assuming its some kids here to give me cookies. I know places that this behavoir would have gotten the girls shot, so ya they were out of line for doing it so late.

While I have to appreciate the girls for trying something to spice up everyones' lives, where I'm from, you just don't randomly knock on a door at 10:30 at night, run away, and expect not to have some people freak. Of course, two underage girls just don't go out at night by themselves around here, and we're a pretty small college town.

 

[randomling]

How late was it? 10:30? The girls were only knocking on the doors of lighted houses, not dark ones. They weren't looking to wake people up or threaten them. We don't know from the article how dangerous the area is, but I'd make a guess that it's not the type of neighbourhood where you can get shot just for knocking on the door of a lighted house at night. I'm sorry that the woman had a panic attack, as she likely has a bad anxiety disorder, but honestly. You don't sue someone for triggering a medical condition they didn't know you had!

If somebody knocks on my door late at night, I won't assume that it's local kids giving me cookies. I won't assume anything. If I'm feeling cautious and I'm home alone, I'll open the door with the chain on. That's about as scared as I get.

 

[der_kluge]

John Stossel's book talks about frivolous lawsuits in this country. Very interesting read. I highly recommend it. Basically, he says that the U.S. is one of the few countries where you can sue, and you suffer no loss if you don't win. In other words, in most countries of the world, if you lose the case, you have to pay the other guy's legal fees. Not here. So, as a result people sue with impunity.

There was a story in his book about some woman who went to law school, never passed the bar, but sued people in her neighborhood for frivolous reasons all the time. Like, once for the kids playing basketball outside. She sued for disturbing the peace. She knew the legal system well enough to try her case herself, and she didn't have to cover lawyers fees that way. However, anyone that didn't want to pay her, had to hire an expensive lawyer, so it was just lose/lose for the people she sued.

The system is broken. (at least in the U.S.)
But try getting lawmakers (i.e., lawyers) to fix it. Doubtful.

/didn't read the article

 

[Desdichado]

I'm kind of surprised that people don't think the girls exercised questionable judgement. What if it was some kids putting bags of flaming poo on your doorstep or apples with razorblades in them? It's people sneaking around at night ringing your doorbell. That doesn't happen a lot in my neighborhood.

I'm going to treat any knock on my door after say 7:00 at night with suspicion. Would I sue once I found out it was some local kids giving me cookies? Absolutely not. But I certainly would question their decision to do so.

I always get these kids knocking on my door after dark; every year in late October. Not only are they not trying to give me cookies, they're expecting me to give candy to them! Outrageous!

Every year my wife and I have put together plates of cookies and taken it to our friends and neighbors in the evenings, usually after dark, knocked on the door and ran. We do this for Halloween, for Christmas and for Easter. We've been doing it since we've been married, so 11 years now. I did it with my family before that.

Sorry, I'm most assuredly not with you on that one.

 

[Henry]

It is at night. Someone comes knocking on my door in the late hours I'm not going to be assuming its some kids here to give me cookies. I know places that this behavoir would have gotten the girls shot, so ya they were out of line for doing it so late.

I'll just have to agree to disagree. I'm afraid I just can't see it, assuming we know the whole story. If the girls get hurt engaging in reckless behavior, that's their responsiblity, but as the story is told, they knocked on a neighbor's door, left a plate of cookies, and then left - no prowling around windows, no teepeeing the house, no hanging around. Knocking on a neighbor's door in standard fashion without acting in a suspicious manner is not reckless. If somehow public perception is now that this is considered reckless, something needs to change, and it's not the girls' behavior.

To quote Forrest, "and that's all I've got to say about that."

 

[Crothian]

I'll just have to agree to disagree. I'm afraid I just can't see it, assuming we know the whole story. If the girls get hurt engaging in reckless behavior, that's their responsiblity, but as the story is told, they knocked on a neighbor's door, left a plate of cookies, and then left - no prowling around windows, no teepeeing the house, no hanging around. Knocking on a neighbor's door in standard fashion without acting in a suspicious manner is not reckless. If somehow public perception is now that this is considered reckless, something needs to change, and it's not the girls' behavior.

Running away when someone calls out "who's there?" is suspicious though.

 

[johnsemlak]

Running away when someone calls out "who's there?" is suspicious though.

Fair enough, but where does that lead? This is a case that ended up with a $1000 award.

Somewhere between that and the old woman deciding this was 'suspicious', someone should have put an end to this.

 

[Felix]

Yeah, they should have stuck around when folks called their names, but still, the Judge should have thrown this out of court and plugged Mrs. Young when it was revealed that the girls' families offered to pay the medical expenses, and then stuck her with all of the court fees.

Seriously, with today's tort laws, there's no reason not to bring lawsuits like this... you can't lose. Specially with Pro Bono lawyers out there trying to milk tortfeasers for all they're worth.

 

[Terath Ninir]

I'm sorry, but this was in a rural area. If it was the inner city then, yeah, you might have just cause to freak. But where THEY were? Nope. Frivolous lawsuit, period. End of story. I have spoken, and my word is the LAW.

 

[Turanil]

What pisses me off is that this gets to court super fast while my dad's pending lawsuit against some people who cheated him out of a LOT of money is lagging behind, 2 years later, still not at court yet. Because of that crap, he had to close his business.

That really needs to be repeated. You point out a serious problem of the current legal system's trend.


Anyway, when I was a child, one of my activities (in those days I had yet to know about rpgs...) was to ring at doors and run as fast as I could. This was good times, you didn't risk being sued for that. Nowadays the world has become crazy... and often thieves disguise as lawyers or victims in need of a lawyer.