There's danger in them old Emersons ! - Videokarma.org TV - Video

Findm-Keepm · #1 09-02-2008, 06:48 PM

Found this little item tonight:

http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/...681.35285.html

Tort law at it's 1971 best...

Cheers,

Clmrt · #2 09-02-2008, 06:58 PM

"Plaintiff, a television repairman, after a two week jury trial of a diversity action in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, before Irving Ben Cooper, District Judge, was awarded $300,000 for personal injuries sustained while he was servicing the tuner on a television set in Ohio on June 4, 1963. Plaintiff lost the sight of one eye when a wire retainer spring flew from the television tuner he was servicing. The tuner had been manufactured by Standard Kollsman Industries, Inc., third-party defendant. The television set in which the tuner was installed had been manufactured by Emerson Radio & Phonograph Corporation, defendant and third-party plaintiff."

Keefla · #3 09-02-2008, 07:01 PM

Quote:

We think there was ample evidence to support Judge Cooper's conclusion that Emerson was negligent in relying on the average repairman to protect himself against remote contingencies while attempting to service a new and sophisticated tuner which was not explained in the service manual; and especially in omitting from its manual any mention of the modification in design that Emerson should have known would require a significantly new modus operandi by anyone servicing the tuner. Moreover, Emerson had conducted extensive tests on the tuner and knew of the danger inherent in the retainer spring. We hold that it was actively negligent in failing to warn repairmen of that danger.

so its not just auto service literature that leaves out the 'good stuff' for you to discover eh?

Celt · #4 09-02-2008, 07:07 PM

The plaintiff now goes by the name I-gor...

jdandy · #5 09-02-2008, 07:12 PM

That's not a great deal of money for loss of an eye. The attorney will take 1/3 of that.

zenith2134 · #6 09-02-2008, 11:53 PM

Tell me about it. Even for the time, the poor guy lost an eye--awards should have been higher. And in the video repair business, it can be argued that this injury could hinder his performance at work. I'm thinking of all the little tiny pieces involved in the adjustment and disssembly of ll the stuff over the years. Not to mention the need to see extreme detail when servicing the video circuitry...

outlawmws · #7 09-03-2008, 12:05 AM

Inflation calculator:

What cost $300,000 in 1971 would cost $1,520,142.85 in 2007

zenith2134 · #8 09-03-2008, 12:09 AM

Hmm...good ol' inflation calc. Still, I wouldn't be satisfied. Kinda like in 'the Machinist' where the fella loses his arm in the garage and gets a payout. He gets a brand new Caddie DeVille but isn't satisfied (to say the least!)

EDIT: then again, that kinda coin could buy a fleet of fully-loaded caddies.....

firenzeprima · #9 09-03-2008, 12:58 AM

as are different behaviors in U.S.A. Italy for the same case, if the repairman had resorted to Judge, it would have been declared to be stupid and go on.

PioneerGuy75 · #10 09-04-2008, 07:07 PM

Safety glasses come to mind....

bgadow · #11 09-08-2008, 10:57 PM

My Dad lost most of his sight in one eye back in the 80s-really freak accident (about like the one in this story) I think by the time they were done with the insurance settlement, they paid off the medical bills and had enough left over to buy a nice dinner.

peverett · #12 09-09-2008, 10:11 PM

There was a person in the small town that I am from that was killed in his TV shop(around 40 years ago). I had always thought that a CRT had imploded and killed him, but found out that he was working with a lathe and something flew off of it and hit him in the head. Makes me feel slightly safer working around old CRTs.

My mothers brother was working on a late 1960s pickup without fan shround when the fan flew apart, mortallly wounding him. Freak accidents are rare, but they do occur.

Ultra-Hog · #13 09-10-2008, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PioneerGuy75

Safety glasses come to mind....

Bingo!

In the spirit of keeping this thread on topic, I will not go on a rant here...

NowhereMan 1966 · #14 09-10-2008, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bgadow

My Dad lost most of his sight in one eye back in the 80s-really freak accident (about like the one in this story) I think by the time they were done with the insurance settlement, they paid off the medical bills and had enough left over to buy a nice dinner.

My father did as well, he worked at a steel plant, in 1979 a pipe blew and hit him in the eye. He was blinded except he could see light/dark, that's it. The scar was on his macula. He'll be 71 next month and he is saying that he is starting to get some vision back and might see if he can get those scars reduced so he can see again.

bgadow · #15 09-11-2008, 10:37 PM

In my Dad's case, he was chatting with a friend who was driving a nail. The hammer struck a glancing blow...the 10 penny nail went flying. Bad luck. He has very limited vision in that eye...the doctors can't figure out how he can see anything.

You never can tell when the fickle finger of fate might leap out and, uh, poke you in the eye. One day I was carrying a flourescent lamp ballast up a ladder and one of the wires bounced just right-went behind my glasses and scratched my eye. Luckily it healed in a week. I don't want to do that too often.