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$1.4 Million for bike accident
We have got a cycling newsgroup on the intranet at work and I lifted this
one from there.........it was the first I had heard about it and it does seem a bit excessive to me?? Gags While this is quite an unfortunate incident, my god, get real!! People have got to be responsible for their own actions. If this girl was going to ride the track it wouldn't have made bugger all difference if the council erected a fence. This sort of stuff makes me so mad, if you're that out of control on a bike there's a million ways not to commit to a jump. IMHO she had every intention of attempting the jump and just stuffed it, sorry but that's nobody else's responsibility but hers 13 years old or not. Anyone else have an opinion on this one? A NSW woman left brain damaged after a BMX accident as a teenager was today awarded almost $1.4 million in damages. Rhiannon Rigby, now 23, successfully sued Shellharbour City Council and South Lake BMX Club in the NSW Supreme Court over an accident at an Albion Park BMX track on November 11, 1995. The then 13-year-old lay in a coma for nine days after crashing as she went over the first hump of the track. She sustained permanent frontal lobe brain damage. Justice John Dunford found both defendants were negligent because they failed to fence off the starting pad and ramp on the track. "Such fencing would not be disproportionately expensive and would have prevented the plaintiff approaching the first jump at such high speed and this would probably have prevented her fall, or at least rendered it much less catastrophic," he said. However, Justice Dunford reduced the payout by 20 per cent because he said Ms Rigby had known of a previous accident at the track only a few years earlier where a man had died. Justice Dunford ordered the two defendants each pay half of the $1,373,992 damages. AAP and this from the ABC Website Woman wins $1.4m damages after BMX bike accident A New South Wales woman will receive damages of almost $1.4 million after the Supreme Court found a south coast council and BMX club were liable for injuries she suffered as a teenager. Rhiannon Rigby was 13 when a friend dared her to ride down the starting ramp at a BMX bike track at Albion Park, south of Sydney, in 1995. Ms Rigby crashed her bike and suffered frontal lobe damage which has left her with a severe and significant disability. She has since been unable to maintain a job and has a young child. Supreme Court Justice John Dunford has found that the Shellharbour City Council and the Southlake BMX Club which operated the track were negligent because the starting ramp should have been fenced off from the public. He has awarded Ms Rigby provisional damages of almost $1.4 million, with the amount to be finalised next month. |
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#2
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$1.4 Million for bike accident
Gags gags_44nospamatnospamtpg.com.au wrote:
We have got a cycling newsgroup on the intranet at work and I lifted this one from there.........it was the first I had heard about it and it does seem a bit excessive to me?? Gags While this is quite an unfortunate incident, my god, get real!! People have got to be responsible for their own actions. If this girl was going to ride the track it wouldn't have made bugger all difference if the council erected a fence. This sort of stuff makes me so mad, if you're that out of control on a bike there's a million ways not to commit to a jump. IMHO she had every intention of attempting the jump and just stuffed it, sorry but that's nobody else's responsibility but hers 13 years old or not. Anyone else have an opinion on this one? In my opinion, anyone who's injured in an accident or otherwise, regardless of fault, should receive income support to the extent that they can't work. That way we coud get rid of this stupid situation where some people can receive "excessive" compensation and others nothing at all. As far as excessive goes, once negligence is determined, it would be a matter of determining what her earning potential was over the rest of her working life. So, as a 13 year old, she'd be entitled to a lot more than a 50 year old injured in the same way. $1.4 million over a lifetime doesn't seem all that much. She'd probably have to pay her lawyers out of that and repay any money received from medicare and social security. I don't know about you, but I've done some stupid things in my time and fortunately survived. It's just part of being human (or maybe just male) to make rash decisions, especially if you are subject to peer pressure or wanting to prove yourself. Fortunately you get over it if you survive long enough. Peter -- Peter McCallum Mackay Qld AUSTRALIA |
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$1.4 Million for bike accident
Peter McCallum wrote:
In my opinion, anyone who's injured in an accident or otherwise, regardless of fault, should receive income support to the extent that they can't work. Paid for by who (or is it whom, can never keep track of that one)? Surely if anyone injured regardless of circumstances gets a payout it should be a govt funded payout, not the organisations and their insurance companies who are seen as the suckers, or worse yet, poor Joe Bloggs who gets sued for some idiot's act of stupidity. Having just watched hundreds of people on the news bitching and moaning about Virgin because they happened to be the poor company that was located in a terminal with a gas leak (or whatever), I've had about enough of everyone lookign for someone else to blame. **** happens, and sometimes it is even your own fault. The cost of any adventure sport, includign cycling (and see the other threads about membership costs and insurance) has been absolutely stuffed by this blame attitude. DaveB " a little on edge with a shoulder injury and unable to ride, swim or run" |
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$1.4 Million for bike accident
DaveB wrote:
Peter McCallum wrote: In my opinion, anyone who's injured in an accident or otherwise, regardless of fault, should receive income support to the extent that they can't work. Paid for by who (or is it whom, can never keep track of that one)? Surely if anyone injured regardless of circumstances gets a payout it should be a govt funded payout, not the organisations and their insurance companies Agree with you there. something like medicare but enough to cover the cost of carers, home modifications, etc. If I was a 25 year old and fell off my bike, broke my neck and paralysed, it would be nice to know that I didn't have to spend the rest of my days in a nursing home with a bunch of old people ready for the final ambulance ride. In the current circumstances, unless you can successfully sue someone, that's what you have to look forward to. I think most people object to people who have been injured receiving compensation because the poor old sporting association or council they had to sue is made to look like the villain. If there was a no-fault system (I think something like this operates in New Zealand), then that would stop the tabloids and shock jocks getting people whipped up about these things. As you say "**** happens" and it's part of life. The community should make allowances for that and support people rather than subjecting them to a life of misery. Peter -- Peter McCallum Mackay Qld AUSTRALIA |
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$1.4 Million for bike accident
DaveB wrote:
Paid for by who (or is it whom, can never keep track of that one)? Surely if anyone injured regardless of circumstances gets a payout it should be a govt funded payout, not the organisations and their insurance companies who are seen as the suckers, or worse yet, poor Joe Bloggs who gets sued for some idiot's act of stupidity. If I had a $1 for every time I did something stupid... watched hundreds of people on the news bitching and moaning about Virgin because they happened to be the poor company that was located in a terminal with a gas leak (or whatever), The triathlete at work was stuck in that.. he's very calm though and just booked another flight out.. I'd be going mental DaveB " a little on edge with a shoulder injury and unable to ride, swim or run" I didn't realise you put 'so much' into your study Dave?!?! hippy |
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$1.4 Million for bike accident
hippy wrote:
DaveB " a little on edge with a shoulder injury and unable to ride, swim or run" I didn't realise you put 'so much' into your study Dave?!?! hippy I could accept it if the injury happenned while doing something strenuous, but I did it in my sleep! That's the second damned injury I've had in my sleep in the past year. Snuck out for a test ride today but only capable of riding on the flat or downhill and not much of that around here. I'll give it another day and then see the doc. DaveB "I want a real injury" |
#7
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$1.4 Million for bike accident
Peter McCallum Wrote: In my opinion, anyone who's injured in an accident or otherwise regardless of fault, should receive income support to the extent tha they can't work. That way we coud get rid of this stupid situatio where some people can receive "excessive" compensation and other nothing at all. Pause for thought, have a gander at this: 'City's saddled with $10 bike suits. (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/loca...p-242467c.html) Now there's unforeseeable accidents, and possibly foreseeable accidents. Th NY situation is a absolute clusterfcuk, while without knowing the ful details of the BMX accident, I'll agree with Peter, this 'arbitary method of securing compensation is appalling. The recent ruling i another case in NSW has raised discussion of a no-fault acciden compensation scheme, see here, 'High Court upholds damages pay-out t Bondi victim' (http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2005/s1299925.htm -- cfsmtb |
#8
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$1.4 Million for bike accident
On Tue, 22 Feb 2005 at 08:03 GMT, DaveB (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea: hippy wrote: DaveB " a little on edge with a shoulder injury and unable to ride, swim or run" I didn't realise you put 'so much' into your study Dave?!?! I could accept it if the injury happenned while doing something strenuous, but I did it in my sleep! That's the second damned injury I don't appear to have posted anywhere on teh UNSENET about my shoulder dislocation. I was in an physics exam. I merely stetched backwards. I fainted from the pain (hey, I manage to faint at least twice a year (hmmm, I'm overdue) because of something completely woosy happening to me, or someone even /talking/ about blood). People gathered around. Many were happy for the 15 minutes extra they got on their exam. I moved to another room, after sitting in the doctor's rest room for an hour, and did the last 2 hours of my exam. I'm sure I got some "special consideration" marks in there somewhere. -- TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/ "I used to be better at logic problems, before I just dumped them all into TeX and let Knuth pick out the survivors." -- Plorkwort, 26 September 2004 on alt.religion.kibology |
#9
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$1.4 Million for bike accident
On Tue, 22 Feb 2005 at 08:03 GMT, cfsmtb (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea: Peter McCallum Wrote: In my opinion, anyone who's injured in an accident or otherwise, regardless of fault, should receive income support to the extent that they can't work. That way we coud get rid of this stupid situation where some people can receive "excessive" compensation and others nothing at all. Pause for thought, have a gander at this: 'City's saddled with $10M bike suits.' (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/loca...p-242467c.html) Now, "I went over the bump and my wheel came off completely," said Natalie Tyler, 29, of Manhattan. "I landed on my head." I would suggest your bike is not very roadworthy, but, having said that, I think a 1" metal plate is a bit... silly to be putting on a bike path. I've complained to council over issues like that. -- TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/ Just because they are called 'forbidden' transitions does not mean that they are forbidden. They are less allowed than allowed transitions, if you see what I mean. --unk |
#10
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$1.4 Million for bike accident
"DaveB" wrote in message u... terminal with a gas leak (or whatever), I've had about enough of everyone lookign for someone else to blame. **** happens, and sometimes it is even your own fault. The cost of any adventure sport, includign cycling (and see the other threads about membership costs and insurance) has been absolutely stuffed by this blame attitude. DaveB " a little on edge with a shoulder injury and unable to ride, swim or run" Strongly agree with your concerns here. After my recent MTB _accident_ I'm also suffering the loss of many favouite activities (6weeks on crutches, no work, no cycling, snorkeling, skiing? for even longer) due to broken hip and strained shoulder. If I was a litigious prick I could probably take the event organisers to the cleaners and boost my bank account by suing for negligence "They should have marked the mud wallow with a sign 'Danger - mud is slippery' and put witches hats out" Somewhere in the whole scheme of living we are morally required to take some responsibility for our own actions in situations where 'common sense' indicates that their is some level of risk that we are taking. As far as the BMX girl is concerned, speeding your BMX of a high start ramp over some jumps has a clear risk of getting significant air, and coming seriously unstuck as a result. She was unlucky and got brain damge, the next rider's fall may have only been a sprained ankle. Taking the local council to the cleaners because of your own risk taking and bad luck is morally bankrupt. This is leading to the death of a lot of entirely reasonable activities that 20 years ago we would not have thought twice about, and accepted the risks involved ourselves. Cheers Peter |
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