Florida Man sues Verizon for $72m – for letting him commit identity theft A Florida inmate is suing Verizon Wireless after he used one of the telco's stores to commit identity theft. James Leslie Kelly, who is serving a prison term in the US state for grand theft and criminal use of personal information, is seeking $72m in damages from the telecom giant. He claims a Verizon shop in Highlands County …
Citizens of the US, I'm sorry but the time has come where it just has to be said - if you want the rest of us to start taking you seriously again you're going to have to do something to stop this sort of idiocy, or at least prevent us from finding out about it and having a good laugh at your expense.
Don't worry, there's already a solution which is even more risible. Signing up with most telco's means signing away all tort rights and submitting to binding arbitration for all disputes. So when the telco really does FUBAR your life you can't do anything about it.
As we all know, telcos never commit errors in security or billing, and competent customer service reps are right there to help. So there's no need for the customer to have a hammer to hold in case they don't oblige.
Isn't that better? You did want a solution.
@Marshalltown
While I appreciate the sentiment, that's really what happens anyway, but just not at that stage. Either way, a judge must decide whether a given lawsuit is fit to be proceeded with and, either way, the lawsuit must be detailed and submitted before that can happen.
That submission of a complaint for examination is what filing is. It can also be considered that filing a complaint is really just telling the courts that you have a complaint with an entity and that you are seeking compensation from them. It need never actually make it to court but the filing essentially documents the issue so that you can seek redress in the courts, should the response from the other party be unsatisfactory to you.
In that regard, what you are describing is a prior vetting of any complaint so that a judge would have to be involved in every filing before the prospective defendant was even issued with the claim.
There is something in that, but I can't help feeling it would involve a lot of extra judicial work in an already over-worked system, especially as claims would just get re-filed. Doing so would also require to judge to make a decision based on only half the story, which might lead to a judge refusing a complaint on the grounds that he/she thinks it is ridiculous on the surface, where a response from the prospective defendant might reveal an actionable claim.
"There is something in that, but I can't help feeling it would involve a lot of extra judicial work in an already over-worked system, especially as claims would just get re-filed."
The best solution would be to let the judge deal with it in court. "You taking me for some sort of idiot? That's contempt. Another 99 years consecutive with what you're doing. Next case."
I like the "loser pays" concept that pops up from time to time. Loser of the lawsuit pays both sides costs. But, individual states would have to adopt it. Lawyers don't like it because it would reduce the number of lawsuits. And those state's legislatures are primarily populated with (and lobbied by) ???
"However the hand written submission suggests that no lawyer was involved, he's doing this all on his own."
From what I've read, reading law books and filing motions/claims with the court system are sometimes the only "recreational" activities that prisoners in the US are allowed. I suppose the theory is that they should not be prevented from assisting in or handling their own legal defence and subsequent proceedings. The fact that somebody is using such privleges to annoy Verizon is pure entertainment. It will almost certainly be dismissed at first glance when it gets reviewed by a judge. There might even be sanctions for filing a frivolous suit or the comlaintant may have to pay respondant's costs. But, the likelyhood of getting any money out of a prisoner is exactly 0, so that's rather a moot point.
The fact that the suit is hand written actually explains where this came from.
Prisoners, often having nothing better to do, file suits all the time. It gets them out of their cells, even if only to go to court. And it increases the cost of the judicial system so that they get to "stick it to the man"
The sheer number of these suits floods the system. Unfortunately, every single one has to at least be heard because sometimes there's a diamond in the dross. Just search for "nutriloaf" <shudder>
@dan1980
Presumably, a lawyer has usually offered advice before the filing and suggested the case has legs. Perhaps if they operated a "three strikes and you're disbarred" policy for filing ridiculous, frivolous and time-wasting cases like this then the burden would be shifted from the courts to the lawyers.
In that regard, what you are describing is a prior vetting of any complaint so that a judge would have to be involved in every filing before the prospective defendant was even issued with the claim.
There's another way it can work. Had the judge told that woman "You should know that if you spill hot coffee on yourself you'll get burnt you stupid bitch!" , or at the very least "Well, you had hospital treatment costing $10,000 so I'm awarding you $10,000 and not one cent more", and such for many other cases, then you wouldn't have crap like this going on. Under the "law of Moses" as some call it (OT Biblical stuff), if you were responsible for someone being injured you were responsible for their medical costs until they were well, nothing more nothing less.
The rest of the world has people trying to sue other people/companies every day. We don't have people expecting to get stupidly rich from it. Nor do we have people who commit crimes expecting to be able to sue victims of the crime, even if the victims negligently left a knife under their skylight or used the wrong sort of glass so poor little criminal cut himself when trying to break into someone's home1. Change the expectations of the payouts to more reasonable levels, you'll change the problem overnight. Stop letting people sue others for their own mistakes.
1 I don't know how much of this stuff is true, but I'm quite certain some stupid cases like this have been brought, and won, with silly payouts given.
I don't know how much of this stuff is true, but I'm quite certain some stupid cases like this have been brought, and won, with silly payouts given.
More than a few it seems. One can't put a deadfall on a window that's been used repeatedly for breakins. Homeowners/businesses have been sued because the burglar climbed in through a skylight and the beam/lightfixture/whatever broke and he fell and was hurt. It makes for sad and sometimes mind-boggling reading about some these lawsuits.
Seems to me there was website that carried these some years ago, but I don't know if it's still around.
"Citizens of the US, I'm sorry but the time has come where it just has to be said - if you want the rest of us to start taking you seriously again you're going to have to do something to stop this sort of idiocy"
Sorry, we're helpless to stop this.
We've tried to reign in Florida's idiocy, but time and time again, any attempt to inject common sense into the state is stymied as it, somehow, always disappears at the border.
"or at least prevent us from finding out about it and having a good laugh at your expense."
We're laughing at Florida's antics just as hard as the rest of the world.
(Except maybe California, they have their own crazy going on.)
Nope. We're not going to do it. To do so would deprive us, you, and everyone else some humor (humour) value and that is something we all need right now... Besides, our idiots are obviously better at being idiots than your idiots. Do try to do better...
"you're going to have to do something to stop this sort of idiocy, or at least prevent us from finding out about it and having a good laugh at your expense."
My understanding is that under the Trump administration this kind of thing just will not happen, we will all be too busy scrambling around the decaying ruins of supermarkets trying to find food to care much about whats being processed by the courts.
Everyone has a right to file...but that neither means a day in court nor winning. Note that the court itself is already moving to dump the case even before it goes to trial, before the defendant can even *ask* that it be quashed. In most areas, any lawsuit that's file *must* be accepted, regardless of who its from or what its about - the clerks of the courts (who often have no legal training since their job is just to arrange and file the paperwork, contact respondents when necessary, and write up summonses and subpoenas for the judge to sign) are not empowered to determine if a case has merit. A judge (magistrate, in a few places) is required to read it and determine its merits. And that happened here.
In Scotland, a policewoman wanted 1 and a half 5 million pounds claiming "post traumatic stress" after being hit by pineapple during a riot in Glasgow, and as a result, she was emotionally scarred for life. She got 3 thousand.
So she actually got a day in court, and got three thousand for being hit by a piece of fruit. This guy didn't even get a day out of jail to attend his lawsuit hearing.
So she actually got a day in court, and got three thousand for being hit by a piece of fruit.
Ah, but you have to understand this is Scotland. The poor lass wasn't traumatised by fighting, or having something heavy and sharp thrown at her. This was in Glasgow for heaven's sake.
No the trauma was caused because an innocent Scotswoman was forced to come into contact with fruit! Worse, it hadn't even been deep fried! There might even have been... vitamins!
The judicial system in America is broken. It allows criminals and scammers to reap fortunes via paid liars and outrageous "pity motivated financial awards" for grossly unreasonable and irresponsible personal behavior.
As an example a woman in the U.S. became an "instant millionaire" by splashing McDonald's coffee on her crotch because she placed the coffee between her legs in a moving vehicle. Instead of the court tossing the irrational suit, the siren chasers including the judge all banded together to establish a new precedent where a company is brutally fleeced out of millions of dollars to reward dangerous and unacceptable personal behavior.
The paid liars were able to convince a clueless, sympathetic jury that the coffee was too hot and therefore McD's was responsible for the woman's injuries. The correct verdict should have been that the woman was negligent for NOT properly stowing the hot coffee while traveling in a moving vehicle. The corrupt paid liars and judges all reap windfall profits from these criminal violations of the judicial system.
It's a national disgrace based on fraud and financial greed that rewards criminal behavior just like this $72 million lawsuit is intended to achieve.
As the saying goes: "A 1,000 lawyers at the bottom of the sea - is a good start".
@AC:
Yeah, about that "macdonalds millionaire"... Not exactly as you describe. The women WASN'T in a moving vehicle. She was sitting in the passenger seat of a parked vehicle driven by her son in law. She has readilly admits the SPILL was her fault. Wat WASN'T her fault was that the coffee was served BLISTERINGLY hot. A fact MD had been warned about (and succesfully sued about) before. As a result of this she suffered 3rd! degree burns to her genitals and lower legs, needing several months in hospital and several skin graft surgeries to fix. The awards she eventually got wasn't millions. And what she actually wanted was just compensation for a PART of the medical costs. In fact, SHE had offered to settle even before the whole thing went to court for a few tens of thousands of dollars (US healthcare is expensive). The jury eventually ruled against MD for 2.7 million dollars (the income from 2 days coffee sales for MD) and eventually the case was settled for $600k
Or just watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9DXSCpcz9E (interesting bit starts at roughly 1 minute in)
Not to say that frivolous lawsuits don't happen, but they are not nearly as big a problem as some people make them out to be. Essentially it is just another trick by big corporations trying to make it more difficult for consumers to fight them.
Wat WASN'T her fault was that the coffee was served BLISTERINGLY hot
Which anyone who isn't severely mentally handicapped would know from the very first time they tried to make coffee.
Turn jug on. Prepare other ingredients to desire. When jug boils, pour boiling contents into cup.
Coffeemakers also boil their water.
McD's should've appealed. She and the judge&jury who awarded her should've been sold into slavery to repay the costs involved for McD's.
Actually that could help improve the jury system, where a lot of people base their decisions not on the evidence but "he looks like a criminal" (and after being stuck in prison for a couple of years awaiting trial...) - if you fuck up on jury service and send an innocent person to jail, you're sold into slavery to repay your debt to them (or made their personal slave to do with as they wish - all 12 of you!)
This post has been deleted by its author
Dear America,
Please pass a law that makes litigators liable to litigation for stupid litigation's or better yet have a court system that reject stupidity.
Thanks,
The rest of the world.
P.S. Until you do we will just laugh at the sheer stupidity of these things. If I was in America right now I would be worried a burglar (not the ham one from McDonalds) would be able to sue me for leaving my window open.
You mean "worried a burglar (not the ham one from McDonalds) would be able to sue me for leaving my window open and harming him or her while they committed the robbery."? I will remind you that they can only sue you if; 1) you bothered to call the police thereby triggering an investigation of this incident, and 2) the burglar is able to tell his/her tale.
So, repeat after me; do NOT call the police, and make sure and get "rid" of any evidence; like cell phones other other tell-tale items, the body, etc while cleaning up. You're the only connection. These idiots are not leaving breadcrumbs to signal their next of kin where they might last be seen.
Also, people. This was in Florida. The state most dripping with idiots in all of stupid america! Garbage in, garbage out.
You all poking fun at the septics.
It's easy to do because the legal systems everywhere outside The Land Of The Free are perfect so us lucky aliens can all relax.
PS
Nobody laughs at the UK because we have allowed an unelected Prime Minister Theresa May to completely fuck us over.
Nobody laughs at the UK because we have allowed an unelected Prime Minister Theresa May to completely fuck us over.
Oh do fuck off... nothing has happened yet and the biggest damage to the brit economy is from doommongers like you saying how everything is shit when strictly speaking NOTHING has happened yet.
And most of all this article has nothing to with ANYTHING relating to your whining.
Errr... well, nothing apart from that whole pesky value-of-a-quid thing: 4 Jan 2016, £1 = $1.474. 4 Jan 2017 £1 = $1.227. So a barrel of north sea oil will cost you £45.84 as compared to £38.16 had the pound not collapsed in, remarkably, June.
Mind you, only an idiot would assume that the full impact of something that hasn't yet happened has been fully absorbed....
""So a barrel of north sea oil will cost you £45.84 as compared to £38.16 had the pound not collapsed in"
seems odd. Who owns the barrel?""
Exxon, BP, Shell... its quite a long list really. One of the things that the debate on Scottish independence failed to take into account was that while the oil might be in Scottish waters the bulk of the profits go to the companies that do the drilling, only a % goes back to the country that 'owns' the oil, so the argument that we have £xxx gazillions worth of oil fell flat on its arse when you point out that the rights to that oil were signed away to some big oil company 20+ years ago.
Anyway, the article has nothing to do with Scottish independance, Brexit or who voted for what... lets get back on topic.
Oh do fuck off... nothing has happened yet and the biggest damage to the brit economy is from doommongers like you saying how everything is shit when strictly speaking NOTHING has happened yet.
You're evidently the sort who will comfortably sit down next to a grenade with a missing pin "because nothing has happened yet". The most experienced negotiator (read: a man who really, REALLY knows what he's talking about because he's been doing it successfully for all his life) just resigned because he was unable to bullshit about how positive it all was and what wonderful results he expected to achieve after triggering Art 50 - that tells me more about what is to come than all the carefully worded press leaks and press releases the UK government offers.
Tick, tock, tick, tock..
"that tells me more about what is to come than all the carefully worded press leaks and press releases the UK government offers."
I also found IDS's reaction informative. Clearly he was a minister who only wanted his staff to tell him what he wanted to hear, not what he needed to know. It explains his spending years presiding over the ongoing disaster of Universal Credit.
"With Brexit we don't know what is going to happen (apart from the doomsayers)."
Don't be silly. The leavers know exactly what's going to happen. Magic unicorns will romp across the country sprinkling magic dust. When the dust hit's* the ground it will germinate into money-bearing flowers and we'll all be rich and free and have an empire again and it will be like Suez never happened. And then they'll wake up.
*Leaver's apostrophe.
Oh do fuck off... nothing has happened yet and the biggest damage to the brit economy is from doommongers like you saying how everything is shit when strictly speaking NOTHING has happened yet.
As you say, we've actually *done* nothing so far, but that hasn't stopped things happening. Food inflation is through the roof compared to the previous 7 years, and we haven't even actually even committed to leaving yet.
The best analogy I heard is that the brexit vote was like jumping off a tall building - people are saying "This isn't so bad", but we haven't yet hit the ground.
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