Jury orders John Deere to pay $5 million for Stillwater man's tractor death

[/pine]

What a lot of people don't think about is that when you sue a corporation, you have just sued everyone that buys their product, and everyone that works for them and everyone that supplies them. Corporations don't "pay" when you win a lawsuit against them, EVERYONE pays. They just pass on the results of lawsuits to the public. it results in higher prices for everyone. You don't think the board or CEO take a pay cut because they lost a lawsuit do you? Same with taxes.. Corporations don't pay taxes either. Never have never will. YOU pay the extra corporate taxes when the idiots that raise taxes decide to tax corporations. Silly people think corporations pay taxes. "we are going to make those fat cats pay their fair share".. Right. keep on believing that if you like.

In reality...The holding companies (corporations) of subsidiaries that manufacture products for consumers are covered by multiple liability umbrella policies...The cost of those policies are already baked in the cake of the MRSPs...A lot of the time settlement costs are written off as good will and do not even show up as liabilities in annual reports...

 

[groundcover]

I wonder if the “tractor training or tractor school” would even work these days. Many years back I would hold tractor training class for our employees at a large wholesale nursery. We had a few close calls and the training did seem to help.
A few years back I held a couple of CDL classes for the FD with our insurance carrier. The instructor did a great job , everyone loved the class and they all passed . Fast forward to todays crazy
World, the insurance carrier has changed and when I request a CDL class their response was they would help out but couldn’t hold a class due to liability ! I said but you are the liability carrier !
Everyone is so concerned with potential lawsuits that they are practically paralyzed.
I could see a dealer being concerned that if they held a class and some potential safety item wasn’t covered and someone was injured that they would be held accountable.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

I wonder if the “tractor training or tractor school” would even work these days. Many years back I would hold tractor training class for our employees at a large wholesale nursery. We had a few close calls and the training did seem to help.
A few years back I held a couple of CDL classes for the FD with our insurance carrier. The instructor did a great job , everyone loved the class and they all passed . Fast forward to todays crazy
World, the insurance carrier has changed and when I request a CDL class their response was they would help out but couldn’t hold a class due to liability ! I said but you are the liability carrier !
Everyone is so concerned with potential lawsuits that they are practically paralyzed.
I could see a dealer being concerned that if they held a class and some potential safety item wasn’t covered and someone was injured that they would be held accountable.

Excellent point, and very true.

 

[Wagtail]

I could see a dealer being concerned that if they held a class and some potential safety item wasn稚 covered and someone was injured that they would be held accountable.

... and to Steppenwolfe... these days the provider of the instruction and, especially, the instructor/assessor are covered as the student/recipient is only deemed (for legal purposes) wholly competent at the time of either passing a 'test' or passing an assessment by a qualified assessor. After that, if he/she stuffs-up, it's on their head.

Note that a 'qualified assessor' does not have to hold any qualification in the subject being assessed, just that the specific assessment was achieved according to the assessment criteria and standard. A qualified Subject Matter Expert/Instructor should be present during a practical assessment.

Being a qualified assessor is another one of those handy 'tickets' that I picked up during my time in the Navy. And, yes, it's recognised in the civvie world.

 

[paulfun9]

Let's make something clear. I'm not advocating for either side. Yes, the guy should have read the manual(s) for his tractor and loader (which is(are)confusing). However, Deere should have ballasted the machine correctly before delivery as it was supposed to have done per their own admission. Both are at fault, in my opinion. I think, given the facts that I was able to read, I'd say 60Deere/40Operator.

I think what you are seeing is a play on words rather than the actual truth.

A tractor is considered ready for use if it has a loader mounted and the means to accept counterwieght prior to use, not nessasary for transport to owners residence. Every function performed with a tractor is to be determined by the user at time of use.
It is a multi function tool that to operate safely needs the operator to read and understand things.

What you are saying is that we need to have a tractor loader set up at the dealer and they would need build it in a manner that we could not take the counterwieght off to use other attachments but rather buy an other tractor with let痴 say a heavy rear cutter and front weights welded in place so we can稚 change it痴 configuration.

No doubt the attorney was smart and focused on the words needed to trick the minds of his uninformed jury. However just like many verdicts before this does not make it right.

 

[k0ua]

I think what you are seeing is a play on words rather than the actual truth.

A tractor is considered ready for use if it has a loader mounted and the means to accept counterwieght prior to use, not nessasary for transport to owners residence. Every function performed with a tractor is to be determined by the user at time of use.
It is a multi function tool that to operate safely needs the operator to read and understand things.

What you are saying is that we need to have a tractor loader set up at the dealer and they would need build it in a manner that we could not take the counterwieght off to use other attachments but rather buy an other tractor with let痴 say a heavy rear cutter and front weights welded in place so we can稚 change it痴 configuration.

No doubt the attorney was smart and focused on the words needed to trick the minds of his uninformed jury. However just like many verdicts before this does not make it right.

best post of the day ^^

 

[paulfun9]

I just looked at the retail delivery checklist for 3 different tractors, one being a JD

All three had the first or second line listed as

OWNERS/OPERATOR MANUAL given to customer at time of delivery.

Going further and reading even my oldest JD owners/operator manual everything is completely defined and covered between the base manual giving every caution and action needed and the supplemental manual for loaders and backoe’s covering it again in detail pertaining to use of said attachment.

With all 3 giving the first and foremost things as READ AND UNDERSTAND THIS MANUAL BEFORE OPERATING and ALWAYS WEAR THE SEAT BELT PROPERLY.

All three cover actual wieghts and thier use, how to figure wieght in tires with fluid, with wheel wieghts, with front wieght bars as well as amount of ballast when using the 3 point and one even goes as far into it to explain how to determine based on distance out from the pins.

So I would guess those owner/operator manuals are really important to read and understand?

 

[ovrszd]

I just looked at the manuals for my Kubota tractor and the loader. A total of 37 pages concerning "Safety" printed on yellow paper. An additional 20 pages on tractor operation and 27 pages on loader operation.

The litigant's lawyers outsmarted the defendant's lawyers and as Paul said, played to the uninformed jury. They earned their 50%.

Two things should have never happened.
1. Death due to improper operation.
2. Awarded settlement to litigants.

 

[oldballs]

Speaking of Operator Manuals, every now and then I reread the manual and find things that I either forgot or missed from previous readings. Some are general info, some on maintenance and some on safety. That's sort of a surprise sometimes and certainly is a refresher.

 

[ovrszd]

Speaking of Operator Manuals, every now and then I reread the manual and find things that I either forgot or missed from previous readings. Some are general info, some on maintenance and some on safety. That's sort of a surprise sometimes and certainly is a refresher.

I agree Mike.