Boy Killed on Kansas Water Slide

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:During the trial, will the Schlitterbahn lawyers bring up the fact that the dad voted to limit regulations and limit the cap?

There isn't going to be any trial. Schlitterbahn will try to settle to get this out of the news cycle ASAP, and with the cap they'll happily pay the maximum to do so.

[Anonymous]

Strictly speaking, the dad didn't vote against raising the cap. He voted yea on a bill that raised the cap from $250k to $350k over the course of about 15 years.

[Anonymous]

Right. If my 35 yo DH dies as a result of a company's negligence, my family loses $300k/year for the next 30 years. But with a kid that's hard. What a weird law.

I don't necessarily find it weird, although I think the punitive damages cap is ridiculously low. To me, it makes sense that a wage earner supporting a family would be able to recover those lost wages, while a nonwage earner who is not supporting a family would not be able to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Right. If my 35 yo DH dies as a result of a company's negligence, my family loses $300k/year for the next 30 years. But with a kid that's hard. What a weird law.

I don't necessarily find it weird, although I think the punitive damages cap is ridiculously low. To me, it makes sense that a wage earner supporting a family would be able to recover those lost wages, while a nonwage earner who is not supporting a family would not be able to.

Perhaps. But a broken heart is still a broken heart. So devastating either way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely heartbreaking. And to think the boy's brother witnessed it. Pray this never happens to anyone else.

Obviously this is awful for the family, but after reading that article, I also feel really badly for the other two women in the raft. I can't imagine how you get past witnessingthat. I'm not going to quote the part of the story about it for the squeamish in this thread, but that's got to be nightmare-inducing for a long, long time.

+1. I hate myself for reading that article.

+2

[Anonymous]

Only in DC would there be pages of discussion on the minutia of a potential lawsuit resulting from this horrible tragedy. Not faulting you PPs, just observing that there are obviously a lot of law school grads in the DCUM contributor pool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How on earth can netting cause decapitation? I understand the raft was traveling at high speeds, but this is just insane to me.

There was at least one gap on the slide that did not have netting - this gap appears to be there as part of the design, not because the net got torn or anything. If a person launched up from the raft at that gap and their neck collided with the edge of that netting structure --- ^ ---- at 65 or so mph they would be badly injured.

Someone isn't going to randomly launch upwards. They're only going to launch upwards at the point where they have upward momentum, and the raft starts to turn down, which is at the top of the second hill.

See 13:34. There are water jets that launched the raft up the second hill and caused it to go airborne before it crested the hill.

[Anonymous]

The money doesn't matter. I lost my youngest son in a fatal accident where damages were awarded to us. That money is blood money and Ive never spent a dime (other than paying our lawyer). I throw away the statement every month before even opening the envelope. Its an amount that could significantly change our lifestyle and I have no interest in a penny of it. What I want is my child. What these parents want isn't money. It annoys me that pages upon pages keep bringing up how much money they should be able to get, will be able to get, etc etc. I would spend the rest of my life working min wage jobs in the worst conditions imaginable if it meant all my children were living.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only in DC would there be pages of discussion on the minutia of a potential lawsuit resulting from this horrible tragedy. Not faulting you PPs, just observing that there are obviously a lot of law school grads in the DCUM contributor pool.

Because you are privy to all other forums around the country in places other than DC and know for a fact that no other city or area is discussing this.

Maybe Reddit? Maybe forums in KC? Most of the parenting boards are being blown up by threads on this topic. What an odd thing to assume "only in DC" would there be pages of discussion of a pending lawsuit.

Expand your mind a little.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The money doesn't matter. I lost my youngest son in a fatal accident where damages were awarded to us. That money is blood money and Ive never spent a dime (other than paying our lawyer). I throw away the statement every month before even opening the envelope. Its an amount that could significantly change our lifestyle and I have no interest in a penny of it. What I want is my child. What these parents want isn't money. It annoys me that pages upon pages keep bringing up how much money they should be able to get, will be able to get, etc etc. I would spend the rest of my life working min wage jobs in the worst conditions imaginable if it meant all my children were living.

So sorry, PP. This sounds terrible.

[Anonymous]

THe point of punitive damages is to punish the wrong doer. A 250k hard cap gives companies an incentive to NOT be as safe as possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The money doesn't matter. I lost my youngest son in a fatal accident where damages were awarded to us. That money is blood money and Ive never spent a dime (other than paying our lawyer). I throw away the statement every month before even opening the envelope. Its an amount that could significantly change our lifestyle and I have no interest in a penny of it. What I want is my child. What these parents want isn't money. It annoys me that pages upon pages keep bringing up how much money they should be able to get, will be able to get, etc etc. I would spend the rest of my life working min wage jobs in the worst conditions imaginable if it meant all my children were living.

I'm so sorry for your loss.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The money doesn't matter. I lost my youngest son in a fatal accident where damages were awarded to us. That money is blood money and Ive never spent a dime (other than paying our lawyer). I throw away the statement every month before even opening the envelope. Its an amount that could significantly change our lifestyle and I have no interest in a penny of it. What I want is my child. What these parents want isn't money. It annoys me that pages upon pages keep bringing up how much money they should be able to get, will be able to get, etc etc. I would spend the rest of my life working min wage jobs in the worst conditions imaginable if it meant all my children were living.

I am so sorry for your loss and your post confirms my thoughts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The money doesn't matter. I lost my youngest son in a fatal accident where damages were awarded to us. That money is blood money and Ive never spent a dime (other than paying our lawyer). I throw away the statement every month before even opening the envelope. Its an amount that could significantly change our lifestyle and I have no interest in a penny of it. What I want is my child. What these parents want isn't money. It annoys me that pages upon pages keep bringing up how much money they should be able to get, will be able to get, etc etc. I would spend the rest of my life working min wage jobs in the worst conditions imaginable if it meant all my children were living.

How terrible. I'm so sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:THe point of punitive damages is to punish the wrong doer. A 250k hard cap gives companies an incentive to NOT be as safe as possible.

Exactly. It's so companies (like this one) are not so cavalier with people's safety. The "worth" of the deceased should be irrelevant IMO. (I understand in KS it is very relevant.)