Man brings suit against equipment maker for operator presence switch malfunction

[joshuabardwell]

Proper thing to do in Japan, but turned out to be used as admission of guilt in American court. That blew me away.

I was involved with an organization that runs an event at which a participant was injured (no actual fault of the Org--just a freak accident) and eventually died from their injuries. We were absolutely torn between our human desire to express our condolences to the person's surviving relatives and our lawyer's advice to make no contact or public statements whatsoever.

 

[daugen]

MHarryE,
as a retired insurance guy, I find your experience fascinating. I was also a volunteer fireman, and second in on a call
where a local teen was killed when their older Farmall rolled on him on a hill while mowing. I arrived to find him dying in his father's arms.
Boy did that make an impression on me. Growing up with a JD B with the narrow front, those old tall tractors are way too tippy for me now.
Nice to own as a barn queen but for me, no ROPS, no go. Our land is hilly. But when I see an older guy out mowing with his 8N, with zero safety gear other than a wide stance, it still brings a smile. Those old engines need to get warm...

But insurance doesn't deal with really old stuff, certainly not from a product liability standpoint.
Insurance companies "subrogation" activities are what usually drive some of these recovery efforts. Those who cause the damage should pay.
Plain and simple. But only if they were "at fault" and that requires a lot of engineers and lawyers to determine. Good job security for you.
And somewhere each time sits a senior claims guy empowered to decide whether they want to pay X to try to recover Y. And sometimes they don't.

I hope you can talk about more examples of your past work, if you are allowed to. You could probably write a primer for us on what NOT to do with our tractors...
thanks.

 

[EddieWalker]

If he was mowing and jumped off, which direction did he jump so that the mower was able to run him over? Seems like he had to have gone over the hood, in front of the mower?

Eddie

 

[firstfruitsfarm]

yep.. while not common.. i have mowed over or threw a swarm of something. seldom have I ever been hit more than a time or 2 at MOST

diving off a moving machine to let it tear down a fence and head off into the sunset without me was never even one of the possible choices...

With yellow jacket season coming shortly (seems earlier every year) a good thing to remember is to NEVER kill/crush attacking yellow jackets. Doing so releases an attack pheromone that draws the entire nest. At most, you will get hit by just two guard ones, like Soundguy did. I know this from personal experience, after learning the hard way. After I wised up, I stepped down right on a YJ nest with the paper protruding from the ground while changing implements. I quickly got back on the tractor, steeled myself for the two hits (which I got), put it in gear and drove off. No more stings. The "hard way" was swatting and receiving 35 stings, with YJs coming from several neighboring nests as well.

 

[Scooby074]

Or learning a major Japanese motorcycle manufacturer sent flowers to the funeral of the first accident victim using one of their bikes in America. Proper thing to do in Japan, but turned out to be used as admission of guilt in American court. .

That sickens me. And we wonder why our society is going into the *******. Things like this above... Showing compassion=guilt.

 

[NorTracNY]

That sickens me. And we wonder why our society is going into the *******. Things like this above... Showing compassion=guilt.

And you also have the other side... People are more likely to forgive and not sue if they feel the other side expresses some remorse.

 

[Scooby074]

And you also have the other side... People are more likely to forgive and not sue if they feel the other side expresses some remorse.

Is that a bad thing? Not everything requires a lawsuit. Lawsuits suing everybody and their dog is how we got into this mess.

 

[daugen]

Is that a bad thing? Not everything requires a lawsuit. Lawsuits suing everybody and their dog is how we got into this mess.

Scooby, you are old school and surrounded by nice people.
My reaction to abusing a Japanese company for doing the right thing, the moral thing, the compassionate thing, was the same as yours.

Both my parents were lawyers, and would have been equally appalled. It's not just about the lawyers, or the ambulance chasing ads on tv,
it's how we use or abuse the law ourselves. People get greedy, and the young have such a sense of entitlement that they see a lawsuit as simply just compensation. And I believe certain Eastern European ethnic groups who have become my neighbors have sort of an "anything goes" attitude towards the law. So I see this greed all around me, and that greed is a real social sickness. And what do you want to be when you grow up little boy? A successful crook like my neighbors!

 

[daugen]

If he was mowing and jumped off, which direction did he jump so that the mower was able to run him over? Seems like he had to have gone over the hood, in front of the mower?

Eddie

I'm guessing foot/pants got hung up on something and he didn't get where he wanted to be, or he slipped, but at least apparently off to the side.
what a nightmare to go through.

only piece of equipment I own with a seat disconnected is my Gravely garden tractor. With the vertical hand clutch, there are some times it's better for me to control the motion while on the ground. And as soon as one lets go of the clutch lever, the unit basically stops. Not like the two larger tractors although the hydro on the Kubota sure hauls everything down to a halt pretty quickly when one lifts off the floor treadle. The idea of a runaway tractor engaged in gear is seriously bad, that sucker isn't going to want to stop for anything...

 

[Renze]

Just found this the other day.... i thought it suits this thread