As some of you may know, or not, lawsuits have been a sore subject with me and I have commented on some here in the past (Wilson natural gas home explosion for instance). I want to know if it’s just me that’s frustrated or if there’s anyone else, or a large percentage, of nyspeeders that are of the same thinking as I am.
It would now appear that the estate of Ida Murphy has solicited the services of local attorney’s Brown Chiari in an apparent attempt to sue the city of Buffalo as a responsible party for the death of Ms. Murphy in a police related DWI investigation gone horribly bad. (http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/local/city-named-in-suit-over-deadly-incident) Here’s my viewpoint:
An officer pulls over a suspected DWI violator, which decides to flee, dragging the police officer with his car which caused him to shoot the driver to save his own life, causing the driver to strike a light pole, and tragically killing Ida Murphy as a by-product of the situation. Why is it now the responsibility of the city to pay her estate, and / or her family, money?
Ida Murphy’s friend Demetrius Moore said, “The bottom line is we deserve to know the truth, as a community, because it appears that a lot of the events have been swept under the rug.”
If there was information not released about this incident, wouldn’t an investigation reveal this information? Do we need to file lawsuit and sue for monetary damages to get the truth? What would the situation be if the drunk driver was allowed to go on his merry way after attempting to flee the police, struck a light pole, killed himself, and then killed Ms. Murphy? Would the city be responsible again? Let’s just avoid any possibility of a lawsuit by not pulling over the drunk driver in the first place and none of this would’ve happened. The drunk driver would’ve probably plowed into someone anyway and possibly killing them too. Again, who get’s to pay for this type of suit? You and I as usual.
We’re a sue happy nation. I’m not gonna let it ruffle my feathers though, because I already let a whole bunch of other shit do that. Getting frustrated about it doesn’t fix it. Just wastes your energy. That being said, I think it’s gross that people try to sue anyone they can.
As silly as it sounds, lawyers used to at least have a shred of integrity and I think thats where were going with this shit. I feel like it was a lot tougher back in the day to find an attorney to take your shitty case if he knew it had a moral question to it whereas now, any billboard lawyer will do anything to make a buck. Thats not to say lawyers havent always been grimers, but theyre just worse now.
I am not sure if you are joking or not but you do know the “Obama phone” law started in the 90s where the federal government started subsidizing telecom costs for low income families?
In this country, you either work and make a living or get sued by someone trying to make a living off you. It is sad.
Meh. Right to petition for redress of grievances is a very important aspect of a free society. Just because a few try to abuse it for a free lunch ticket doesn’t mean we should put barriers to justice in place.
Take this case for instance. Cop cars have dash cams. Why do the cops now say they “think” there was a struggle and the cop might have been dragged? How the hell do you fire a gun when you’re being dragged by a car? Sounds fishy. What if your mom died and you think it may be because some power tripping cop unnecessarily shot someone?
I’m not saying this case has any merit, but you can’t decide that until arguing it in court.
This is 'Murica! Why work when you can sue someone?
Agreed. They haven’t released the dash cam footage have they? I wouldn’t call it a bs lawsuit until we know all the facts.
DISCLAIMER: I realize my statements here are kind of at odds with each other, we’ve all heard stories of all the BS lawsuits going around. Can’t say for certain if this is one of them, but we know that there are plenty.
The information revealed from the investigation wouldn’t necessarily be made public. Sometime you have to sue to get the detail. A FOIL request might get it, but that’s not always a guarantee. Part of the reason for the “outrage” here is that it’s the sixth time the BPD has shot a suspect this year and the this is the third one to die.
It’s standard operating procedure for the plaintiff’s bar to sue everyone and anyone that’s potentially negligent. As I understand it, there’s a chance(though it’s unlikely) that the attorney could be sued for malpractice in the event that they failed to include a negligent party in a suit. Most (though not all) of the frivolous crap gets discharged on a motion and never makes it to court. I’m sure the estate of the driver that was shot, his insurance company, the owner of the car, the cop that shot him, etc. are all going to have suits filed against them too.
I go back and forth on whether or not we’re a sue happy nation, or the way our legal system has evolved prohibits you from getting any legal relief without filing suit.
That just raises more questions. Why would not one, but both officers lean into the car to turn the car off? Wouldn’t they be better off telling the driver to turn the car off and put the keys on the dash, or throw them out the car to them? This isn’t me saying that the story sounds fishy, this is me saying that if that story is true, those cops might be legally retarded.
Filmore Ave in Buffalo? That street should be ridden with city cameras. I am sure the video will come out at some point.
I love how no one thinks to sue the guy who tried to drive away. If the cops reached in to turn the car off, I would think he made signs he wanted to drive away. If he stepped out of the car like they probably asked multiple times, he would have never ran into the pole killing anyone. Sue that ass hole.
I’m sure his estate and insurance companies are being sued, that’s just not news worthy.
Funny you mention this, one fell on a car a couple of years ago, and I think the city was sued for failure to properly maintain the post. IIRC, it had been reported several times as being dangerous or damaged before it fell.