how do you all protect yourself from sue happy individuals who buys your boards. do you put a disclaimer or what? there are a lot of people who do not take responsibility for their own actions.
Call Al Merrick at Channel Islands Surf Boards in Santa Barbara, CA. He can give you the whole skinny.
you said the evil “S” word shame on you that ship belongs on the litigation planet not here in surf world…Interlopers from the litigation planet are best quarentined to breed with others of simular species they seem to like each other…better…ambrose…constructing a golden shield of protection while making the sign of the cross and waving garlic
Welcome to the new crop of surfers!!! It is going to get really bad just watch.I mean can you even believe the peaple you see in the water now???It is ,"REVENGE OF THE NERDS!!!hhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
I know that I like to hang out with nerds because they know how to spell. The “a” on your keyboard is nowhere near the “o.”
people -happy now?
i have no clue if my question was even answered since i have no idea what you guys just said
Interesting question indeed…So could I sue a car manufacturer for selling me a car that will let me break the speed limit…could I just say oh I was speeding and its not my fault because the car does 280km…or if I crash it because a blinding flash took my eyes for 2 seconds and I ran into the car infront would it be the manufacturers responsibility that the windscreen isnt tinted for flash glare? Or for surfboards could I sue manufacturer the if it was proven that the esthers and other assorted pthalates attract sharks and one attacked me? and the same gasing off chemicals over long term exposesure can lower my sperm count and interfere with conception. ??? What if I could sue my greatest grandparents for leaving a genetic code that left me with the genetic propensities that limit my life and increase the possibilities of disease. I have the right to a full and happy life as does anyone. Where does it begin and where does it stop. But yes a good question… I look at it this way…We either concented to being alive or we had no choice…Either way its not how much time we have, its what we do with the time we are given that matters… http://www.geocities.com/wunderboyi/ninetysixpercent.html
the reason i ask is because of the the lawsuit against a leash manufacture. from what i read, a wife sued the company after her husband died while going out in water conditions surpassed his skills. she blamed the death on the leash. i forget if she won the case or not. i wouldnt be surprised if she did.
So far, there’s nothing on NJ courts online http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/
Ok heres a question…if she did win whos pays the bill the company or the state, the state let the company trade and set the guidelines for the standards…so who pays ? http://www.geocities.com/wunderboyi/ninetysixpercent.html
Interesting note about the guy’s wife from Jersey. He died surfing a BIG clean winter day in March 2 years ago. I too was out that day. Big clean nor’easter surf. Ver good waves. The leash snapped, not sure where, board washed ashore, his body didn’t. Cause of death, presumably drowning, but one can never know for sure. About a year goes by and then lawsuits against the leash company AND the surf shop that sold him the leash AND the distributors of the leashes are filed. The shop Eastern lines is a good one with very strong ties to the community. As of right now I do not know the status of either of the suits. It is a great shame that anyone should die from doing something that they love…and for that matter that a lawsuit such as this has sprung up in it’s wake. I am no legal expert, but just how far-reaching are the limits of liability??? Did his board hit him in the head and render unconsious? Did he break his neck ona fall? If so a leash would have done him no good. Shows just how much of a crutch the leash has become in modern surfing. A kook crutch, and now a legal crutch. http://www.surfingthemag.com/pulse/07_30_03_unleashed/ http://www.localswell.com/files/WifeSues.htm
Howzit Third Timer, I guess we’ll have to start signing a waiver when buying surfboards and reliated products. I’m with Ambrose when it comes to the S word. Aloha, Kokua
I say good luck to anyone trying to prove liability as resulting from the leash when they do not have a body or know the cause of death. Who’s to say a shark did not eat this guy or that he had a heart attack? I know all the guys who work at the shop who sold the leash. Unfortunately, they have the dubious honor of living and working in one of the most litigious states in the US. There once was another guy who during a hurricane went to three separate NJ beaches trying to take his young kids in swimming (don’t ask what the motivation was here). He got kicked off the beach in the first 2 spots and told he had absolutely no business being in the water that day as it was too dangerous. So what does this brain surgeon do? Goes to spot #3, takes his kids in and loses them in the rip. They unfortunately drowned. So he sues the town for negligence. Why? The town was allegedly negligent for not stopping him and his kids from going in the water. The claimant did not win the suit but the town’s taxpayers still had to shell out the $$ for defending the case. I’m sure that the city’s municipal insurance rates went up also, and guess who pays for that? We wrestled with this issue in the NJ Surfrider Foundation many times, and we came away with the opinion that signs cleary stating “Surf at Your Own Risk” should be posted at every break. As such, from a legal standpoint any resultant damages could be termed as someting that the injured party had willingly chosen to accept. This would weed out many of the lawsuits against third parties. (Another possible solution is to start signing waivers every time you go out, and that is not foolproof as a liability defense either). Any of you surfing attorneys out there have any more feedback?
The climbing industry is perhaps the most similar to surfing, and they have already gone through this. In the end the hardware part of the Patagonia empire was sold off just to get rid of the liability. It’s the most closely parallel hardware to a surf leash. If a climber, regardless of experience, places protection and later the protection doesn’t hold, sue the manufacturer regardless. The trick in the legal system is the expense. You don’t have to have a good case - they call them “nusience lawsuits”. It will cost your company so much to fight to the end that they will settle - early and often - simply more cost effective. You pick up the premium increases, of course. It may seem simple going in. Warnings are on equipment, whatever, and you might have a lot of solid legal ground. Your day in court comes, and the plaintiffs lawyers ask for more time, want more depositions…all billable time to lawyers. It can suck on for years; not one or two, but 6 and 8 years. Sorry…no punchline to this one.
Without wishing to belittle the tragedy, and while sympathetic to his family, the legal expression is “assumption of the risk” - which is something we all do every time we decide to get in the ocean.
Shame about that guy from N.J, but like its been said earlier perhaps there is a new contingent of surfers, leash as nessecity and not convinience. I thought a person was supposed to surf as though they were not wearing a leash. Any hoo here’s a shamless example of “s” ing. My old man used to manufacture fireman’s helmets back some 20-30 years ago, the case that ended that and sent the job overseas probably; was this. FireMan goes to Fire…Forgetts his own helmet…gets hit in the head with a board that had a nail in it…Kills him dead, because he had no brain bucket on and then guys family "s"s every body involved in making the helmet, from the plastic shell (my Dad) the the poor sapps that make the chinstrap. Talk about weakness. Punishable by public work gangs, like in Oh Brother Where Art Thou. This whole litigation thing was probably drummed up by people who got picked on in high school (alot),sons of overprotective mothers and others who are just plum greedy. Damn Shame!! Heres to Ambrose, I’m with him and stocking up on garlic.
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