California Court Okays Suing Good Samaritans
Posted on December 19, 2008
No good deed goes unpunished — not when trial lawyers can use them as a pretext to sue:
The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a young woman who pulled a co-worker from a crashed vehicle isn’t immune from civil liability because the care she rendered wasn’t medical.
The divided high court appeared to signal that rescue efforts are the responsibility of trained professionals. It was also thought to be the first ruling by the court that someone who intervened in an accident in good faith could be sued.
Next time you see someone unconscious in a crashed vehicle that might go up in flames, run away quick before you’re seen. If you rescue them, they’ll sue you. If you leave them to die, their estate will sue you.
What a wonderful world to be a lawyer in.
On a tip from Richard C. Cross-posted at Moonbattery.
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6 Responses to “California Court Okays Suing Good Samaritans”
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well i guess if it happens to me then i guess its just not going to the person in the wrecks- lucky day cause i’am not going to help at all or hang around to be sued.
Of course this would happen in California, the most litigious state in the Union. What appears to be missing from this ‘blame’ case is that her injury was the result of the car crash. And one wonders if the driver was under the influence and why the woman got in the car with him in the first place if this was the case. Where does personal responsibility come into this? We are a generation of spineless blamers who want someone else to pay the price for everything.
When the woman pulled her friend from the car it may not have been totally without harm to her injuries but who would know what to do in this situation if there was a fear of a fire? Many good samaritan acts are under extreme duress (and often risk to the samaritan) and to ask someone to be held to the standard of a professional expert will put a damper on anyone put in the same situation.
Certainly the victim has the right to sue the driver but to go after the woman who pulled her from the car is absolutely outrageous and a very dangerous legal precedent. Describing her act as the same as pulling out a rag doll is lawyer talk and really sad.
I understand the California Legislation is acting to close this loophole. I hope so because otherwise this woman may be responsible for the deaths of others when passersby fail to help out of fear of the consequences.
Maybe the next person who is not helped by a good samaritan because of fear of this lawsuit can in turn sue this lady for creating an atmosphere where others were unwilling to help them. Tit for tat.
If a drunk and stone person, who is told by several other people not to remove the injured party from the vechial qualifies as a “Good Samaritan” then I hope said “Good Samaritans” leave me to the jackels. This “Good Samaritan” claims she pulled her friend from the vechial becuse it was about to explod, which is ofcourse why she set her down right next to it….
my understanding is that u can be sued if u see someone in need of assistance in a accident or in danger and u ignore the situation and leave,so now thanks to these idiots in the supreme court in california ppl can be sued if they help,,talk about a catch 22 situation,what were these morons thinkin when they ruled on this,,,????????????
I thought all states had good samaritain laws in place for protection against these lawsuits or is that just some states.