Greedy Trial Lawyer
If A Tree Falls In The Woods Is Warren Meyer Liable?
Category: Ho Hum
Warren Meyer at Overlawyered starts with a fair question, Do Acts of God Still Exist? He then provides a hypothetical scenario and invites comments. My comment is that Warren is busy stoking the tort reform fires far more than he is seeking an answer to his question. My question is, Does Poisoning The Well Still Work? Warren, I'll bite on your question and say that you are off the hook for the falling tree, but your experts may have some legal liability depending on the autopsy of the tree.
...does the legal term "act of god" have any meaning nowadays vis a vis liability, or are all damages now necessarily someone's fault?Let me give a specific example that is not real but is typical of these claims.
A customer drives into a National Forest campground we operate. During their stay, on a particularly windy day, several trees fall over including a large tree that crushes the roof of their camper. Is this an act of god? Or am I, as I can assure you every such customer and insurance lawyer out there seems to believe, liable for the damage to their car?
Well certainly, one criteria would be whether I exercised due care in maintaining the health of the trees in public areas. And in fact we have a hazard tree process where experts from the US Forest Service, whom a reasonable person would consider the best in their field, assess the health of trees in public areas and mark trees that might pose a danger of falling for us to remove. Lets posit that we had just completed this process, and the tree that fell looked healthy to all the experts. I guess the question is, in today's legal environment, is there any such thing as being able to prove "all due care", or in effect does the accident itself serve as prima facia evidence that due care was not exercised, even if no one can think of what else could be done? Comments are open.
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Comments
Congrats, you made his point - SOMEBODY is at fault.
Let's assume that the "autopsy of the tree" showed nothing bad (however you define that). Let us further assume (as was well implied by Warren without being fricking exhasutive - see "silly product warning labels" about how lawyers are requiring stupid exhaustive listings) that anything else you can come up with is good - that is, the wind blew very hard, hard enough to knock over any tree in that place.
Who gets the blame? Who do you sue? The question Areen was asking is, "Is there EVER a time when there's no one to sue?"
Apparently not.
Posted by: Deoxy at February 21, 2006 11:35 AM
Deoxy is very close to having it right.
"Is there EVER a time when there's no one to sue?" When the tree fell on the camper there were facts to determine and legal precedents and theories to consider. After that process is completed (which should include an examination of the tree and more) a greedy trial lawyer may conclude there is "no one to sue." The conclusion is not a matter of cosmic truth, however. It is the reasoned opinion of one competent and informed greedy trial lawyer on one specific set of circumstances.
"Is there EVER a time when there's no other cancer treatment to consider?" "Is there EVER a time when there's no hope of success?" "Is there EVER a time when there's no intelligent thought to add?" "Is there EVER a time when there's no one to sue?" These questions are answered by and for one patient, one businessman, one thinker and one victim at a time.
There is "a time when there's no one to sue" but it is not for Deoxy to say when it is.
Posted by: GTL at February 21, 2006 04:32 PM
You're right, it's not for me to decide. I am a mere mortal, not an all-powerful lawyer.
Mea culpa. Oh, sorry, I'm not supposed to know what that means, either, am I?
"There is a time when there is no one to sue," but there is apparently never a time when one shouldn't consult a lawyer to tell them whether this is one of those times, as only they can tell.
Bollocks.
Posted by: Deoxy at February 22, 2006 01:50 PM