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Balladeer
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-05
Posts 25505Ft. Lauderdale, Fl USA 
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VIENNA (AFX) - A group of Austrian and German victims of the Asian tsunami disaster are to file a lawsuit demanding that Thailand, French hotel chain Accor and US forecasters prove they reacted adequately to the disaster, their lawyers said. The suit, naming Accor and the US-run tsunami early warning system in the Pacific as well as Thai authorities, will be filed in a New York district court this week, the lawyers said in Vienna. The targets are the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Washington and its Hawaii-based tsunami warning centre; the Accor group of hotels where some of the victims stayed; and the Thai government. The NOAA is accused of having registered the earthquake but failed to alert Indian Ocean countries of the impending tsunamis as the Hawaii centre covered only the Pacific. The lawyers said that if the NOAA and Thai authorities, which had their own information, had passed on their alerts in time, it would have enabled people on shorelines to flee inland. ...and so it begins. it's the USA's fault, after all, and the line-up is now beginning to build for those who want to file lawsuits.. They should change the spelling to SUE-nami! |
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| © Copyright 2005 Michael Mack - All Rights Reserved | |||
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LeeJ Member Patricius
since 2003-06-19
Posts 13296 |
I tell you, I can only shake my head at this...and all the frivolous law suits... quick fixes and a way to attain....?????? Deer, it disgusts me...things happen...unforeseen things...and yeah, if my son were killed I'd feel the anger, the pain, the suffering...but, I wouldn't sue, in my world of thinking, all the money in the world wouldn't bring him back...and I wouldn't want to disgrace his life, by using his death as a money maker.... when are people going to stop all this foolishness? I bet the attorneys were over there the next day passing out their cards...hehehehe No, I'm not making fun of a disaster...a henious one at that...but the concept of people...thinking first and foremost, how can I make a fast buck off of someone elses suffering, inclucing family members...if I'd be killed like that, and my son would do something so sickening, I'd come back and haunt him for the rest of his days.... This is indecent behavior...a total loss of moral ethics...this is, insulting, demoralizing and greed....that's all it is....and it's a shame, mankind has resorted to this... Wish I was a judge...I'd be just like Judge Judy and throw more then half the cases out of court...poof, gone.....I'd give them a what for!!! Poop happens Deer, I'm sorry to say...a lot of things are accidents which couldn't be helped...unless you want to lock yourself up in your home and never come out? and please, my heart breaks for all those people lost, those children lost, left homeless....but man cannot control nature and weather, not as of yet...and would there have been enough time...maybe, but maybe not? Maybe not... thanks Deer for the opportunity to vent...gosh what a fix this world is in???? |
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Ron
Administrator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-05-19
Posts 8669Michigan, US |
You're assuming, Lee, that the only reason to sue someone is for money. In this recent thread, the same assumptions were made. But damages often do more than just make money change hands. Often, a law suit is the best and quickest way to get people to change behaviors as well. If someone, especially a commercial hotel chain afraid of lost profits, proves to be culpable, then they should be made to pay. It's not a matter of rewarding the victims, but rather a matter of punishing the guilty enough so they are motivated to change. From what I've read, I honestly doubt that's the case, but then again, that's not really for me to decide. That's why we have juries. |
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Balladeer
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-05
Posts 25505Ft. Lauderdale, Fl USA |
I sincerly doubt, Ron, that the hotel chain was responsible for the tsunami deaths and I'm sure you do, too - but, yes, that will come out at any trial. It's just a shame there might be one. As far as the punitive damages - what a sweet racket the lawyers have. They get people to think in the same manner you have just described - it's for the punishment, the culpable need to be taught a lesson, they need to pay - and they smile inside because the majority of that "punishment" amount goes in their pockets. I would be rallying a war cry of indignation, too, if it would steer millions my way. I'm not sure how lawyers or defendants getting filthy rich from punitive damages teaches the companies a lesson but it should teach us one - how gullible we are to buy into it. If you don't think it's all about the money, the swampland I was going to sell Noah is still available  |
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Ron
Administrator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-05-19
Posts 8669Michigan, US |
So you think Bush, when he sued Enterprise in 1999, was just being greedy, Mike?  As for lawyers getting rich in the pursuit of justice, I suspect you'll find just as many doctors getting rich in the pursuit of health. Profit alone doesn't make a pursuit unjustified, and few professionals can afford to spend all their time suing, healing, or killing bugs for free. |
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Balladeer
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-05
Posts 25505Ft. Lauderdale, Fl USA |
hmmm....good point about Bush. Enterprise deserved to be punished for sure. That was open and shut. Bush greedy? I would say yes to a degree....Bush's lawyers greedy in pushing for the highest amount possible? Definitely. I'll have to check into that and see if there is any info on what Bush did with the settlement money. I'm SURE what the lawyers did with their share! . Yes, doctors can easily fall into that category on occasion but there is a difference. Doctors are active participants in a given situation. If a doctor were to perform an operation and charge an excessive amount, at least he performed the operation. Lawyers are simply middle men, forced to be hired because the legal system is so complicated the average citizen has no choice but to employ them. The lawyers themselves are not victims of whatever action took place and yet by screaming that the evil-doers must be punished, they take home the bulk of the rewards. I don't call that an honest "working for profit" situation. If those lawyers who stand before juries with tears in their eyes, painting the pictures of suffering and pain their clients had gone through and screaming that justice must be done and the poor victims deserve satisfaction - if those lawyers felt so strongly about those points, they would not take the lion's share away from the victims who actually did the suffering. They laugh all the way to the bank and I find it incredible that their fees are not questioned. No wonder lawyers and lawyers-turned-politicians run the country. They deserve to because they are much smarter than the rest of us. They can run a loaded-deck confidence game and get us to cheer them when they win....or at least keep our mouths shut. I don't consider working for profit evil, as you well know, based on my Rand devotion but she also pointed out that there is a huge difference between getting money and making money. As far as the noble profession of bug-killing, I'll have to check with my lawyer before answering |
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Mistletoe Angel 
since 2000-12-17
Posts 32816Portland, Oregon |
This is absolutely disappointing and rather humiliating in many ways. This lawsuit isn't funny at all. These people don't think that the families of those 274,000 haven't suffered enough too, yet they know the green won't take their children or relatives back. Lawsuits like this are immoral and saddening to see. This tsunami disaster was abrupt, it was so very sudden, most of the public didn't even expect or anticipate it coming. What could the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration done to warn those in the South Pacific differently? And how the heck was Accor responsible? Now you all know how I'm always up for standing up to businesses and such that exploit workers or dodge responsibility and such, but this is just beyond ludicrous. As much as I believe there is a greenhouse effect and is affecting patterns of extreme weather worldwide, this was simply a natural disaster, and there was nothing anyone can do about it. It just happened, and now knowing what happened, officials are taking action in implementing a stronger alert system. But I'm telling you, those Austrian and German victims are one of the three "Most Ludicrous Items of the Day" today! (Hey Balladeer, I didn't understand that swampland bit, please clarify!  )Sincerely, Noah Eaton "If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other" Mother Teresa |
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