Jury finds Brunswick partially responsible for accident

Wow..that's a tough pill to swallow on all sides of it...
 
SO the line came undone, he jumped out of the boat to grab it and his buddy backed into him and amputated his leg and it is the boat manufacturer who is at fault?

A terrible accident nonetheless.

He who has the deepest pockets takes the hit I suppose.....
 
So if I back over someone with my Suburban, they can now sue GM instead of me?
 
Hard for me to understand...the guy reversed his boat into his poor friend in the water and...

..."The driver wasn't part of the suit and will pay no damages"

:wow:

But the boat was the culprit??? Have I understood right????

This story remembers me the one of the inept Prius drivers...
 
ChuckW said:
So if I back over someone with my Suburban, they can now sue GM instead of me?
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Yes because a back up camera would have prevented it…

Maybe they should equip all vehicles front and back with one of those cow scoops like the trains had in the day….
 
Jack F said:
Yes because a back up camera would have prevented it…

Maybe they should equip all vehicles front and back with one of those cow scoops like the trains had in the day….
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But my Suburban has a backup camera and the sensors... but I can still "do it". There is no guard or shield to protect the person from a 7,000lb rig from crushing them. GM should know that and fix it :smt013
 
What ever happened to personal responsibility? Everyone want's someone else to blame for their own stupid actions.

I feel for the victim's situation, but that is no justification for operator error. It was that simple.
 
I hope Brunswick appeals this up the ladder. The implications of this are huge!
 
This is a bit much - the operator of any vehicle is responsible unless a manufacturing or design defect comes into play. The 'lack' of a propeller guard is not a defect and if an owner/operator feels it is they should install one prior to use. Using the boat says they accepted it 'as is' unless a real defect comes into play.
 
As usual the lawyers go after the deepest pocket. Brunswick will and should appeal this.
 
We wonder why boats cost so much. Products liability is a part of the cost of every thing used to assemble the boat plus the liability of the finished product. Now you can expand this to every product and service we purchase. It is the lawyer tax.

We should have the right of compensation when injured by negligence of someone else. In this case it would have been the operator of the boat. However, he did not have the "deep pockets". As jurors we put these cost on ourselves.
 
One of the first things my passengers hear on my boat is "don't jump in the water with the motors running" I would feel 100% responsible if someone was injured by ME, not the boat. :smt013
 
This is a terrible tragedy. Hopefully the appeals court will overturn the decision against Brunswick.

ChuckW said:
What ever happened to personal responsibility? Everyone want's someone else to blame for their own stupid actions.

I feel for the victim's situation, but that is no justification for operator error. It was that simple.
Click to expand...

Sadly, the whole concept of Personal Responsibility is quickly becoming obsolete. It's a direct result of the nanny-state and generations living off of welfare or other forms of public assistance.
 
Absurd!

Chuck, a GM technician will be by your house to install wheel guards on that Suburban tomorrow morning. We can't let anything hit those tires, you know.

I think we need a change in the law. Whenever a jury makes an award like this, they should be required to first produce a working prototype of whatever safety feature that the manufacturer "failed" to implement. In this case, a propeller guard that works in every situation, like BIH where any guard would get so fouled by plastic bags and condoms that propulsion would be impossible.
 
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Brunswick needs to fight this to the bitter end. If they don't, the boat industry will end up like the small plane industry of the '70s. Shut down....Product liability costs will soar and so will the already high price of retail new boat prices. I was in the general aviation business in the 70's-I saw prices of new light aircraft more than double in less than 5 years. Most of it was due to insurance costs. Piper, beech and cessna all stopped production of light a/c for a period of time...This is really bad news.....
 
Just ridiculous! My operators manual must cover this situation about 50 times and is worded 50 different ways, besides common logic. Not sure what this jury was thinking.
 
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