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Re: Fw: Why do we put so many warnings in our manuals?
Subject:Re: Fw: Why do we put so many warnings in our manuals? From:"Bob Hooker" <rlhooker -at- telocity -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 30 Jul 2002 14:17:52 -0400
Keith, Donn and others
We can all agree that people should take responsibility for their actions
(and I most empatically do agree) but it doesn't get the bills paid. Let's
take a hypothetical example:
Say I cause an accident that causes $5 million worth of damage, hardly an
unrealistic sum given medical costs, etc. Being a responsible guy, I've got
$1 million in liability coverage. My victims get the whole works plus
everything I own, but they are still several million dollars in the hole. I
can't give them any more, and they don't have that kind of money either, so
what are they supposed to do? I would call that a very strong incentive to
sue somebody, anybody, who could help them pay. Their grounds might be
incredibly bogus, like my owner's manual (tech writer tie-in) didn't say
that I should step on the brake when I see another car coming. The judge,
the jury, and everybody else knows it's bogus but the reality is that my
victims still need several million dollars plus attorneys fees so they are
looking for the deepest pockets.
Of course what you read about in the paper is that somebody walked off with
xx million dollars because the owner's manual didn't tell me to step on the
brake and naturally you think these guys have hit the jackpot by suckering a
jury.
> FORCED to sue?!??!?
>
> Give me a freakin' break. Me, I'm forced to work for my money.
> ...
> Nobody's FORCING me to do anything about it.
>
> You want protection, buy insurance.
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