6.6 million and some change For an eye

[Muzikman]

Deer hunting with a shotgun?

And when did getting out of a tree stand become illegal?

Oh well. I think that what ever the court is willing to give the kid is alright with me. I just hope it doesn't cause the feidl to close. I have played Country Club, and besides the wood chipped covered concrete floor in the back, I like the place.

A good friend of mine is blind in one eye and has been her entire life. Although she lives a very normal life and can do everything a normal person can do, it can still be a problem for her.

[minimagjim]

First thing I must say is I have played a few times at CCP, and felt it was a good field with what I would say is resonable safety. I say resonable because there are places to go and set up your gear that are not in direct view of any of the staff. However, most people I have seen there are all very careful with their equipment and follow rules we all follow without being told to follow them. Such as NEVER POINT A GUN AT ANY ONE, even if it has a barrel cover on it. I am not saying that this was not the fault of a faulty barrel condom, but imagine if he was told not to point the gun at anyone. It would have hit a wall or the floor. I am also sorry to say that if you dont know that or fear what can happen you shouldnt be allowed to play.

I grew up around firearms, my father was a hunter, and I never fired off a shot at the wall or even pointed an unloaded(checked) weapon at anyone, not even goofing around. Why? Cause my father would have punished me and not let me around any of those items again. But since I followed gun safety, I was allowed to go hunting with him and target shooting. I follow the same practices with Paintball Guns. When I would bring friends or relatives with me to play I make sure to watch them and to check if they are doing something wrong, as in barrel blocker not on or even safety not on. I will point it out and they will then be aware of their mistake. This should have been followed here. I do believe though the parents or adults present should have been monitoring the situation, and made sure no guns were in other kids faces...

oh by the way I just thought of it while writing this was the safety on? Since the field gives you a barrel blocker but its YOUR responsibility to put the safety on!

[hitech]

This kid should have gotten the money that was charged to have surgery and such and some money for suffering but not 6 million.

He LOST the use of one of his eyes. It's not like he went through surgery and is "fixed". They could NOT repair the damage. How much money would it take to get you to sell one of your eyes?

[slade]

God, 6 million is a little too much, about 2 years ago, my dad was hunting and the man got out of his tree stand. My dad shot at this dear once, hit it, shot again to make sure it was dead. He accidently hit the man in the head with 2 little things that are in the shot gun cartridge. The man lived and his wife wanted to sue us for 7,000,000 And they didnt even get it because it was his faught for leaving his tree stand. I think getting shot in the head with a 12 gauge and having to have so much surgery done should be worth 6 million. This kid should have gotten the money that was charged to have surgery and such and some money for suffering but not 6 million.

actually I think losing your sight in one eye is worse than having surgery for a 12-gauge wound... at least you dont have any permanent damage. but anyway, why was the guy stupid enough to get out of the stand and walk where your dad was shooting? and why did your dad shoot if the guy was nearby?

[Gr0dy]

actually I think losing your sight in one eye is worse than having surgery for a 12-gauge wound... at least you dont have any permanent damage. but anyway, why was the guy stupid enough to get out of the stand and walk where your dad was shooting? and why did your dad shoot if the guy was nearby?

he did not see the man, the man got out of his tree stand at the local hunting club and was going to follow a dear, at this club you must stay in your stand at all times or stay on the trail, the man wasnt on his tree stand or on the trail he was in the middle of the woods. Also he has some permanet brain damage, my dad said he will never go hunting again.

[Robotech]

You have to understand one thing about awards to a plantiff in a lawsuit. The amount awarded is based upon two general catagories..actual damages incured past, present and future, and punitive damages. Punitive damages may be awarded above and beyond the amount of actual damages if the judges feels that the defended needs to be "punished" for doing what was done to the plantiff. (Very simple deffs here...you could write volumes of info on punitive damages).

In actual damages, let's look at this case. One, the person injured is a minor. I don't remember his age but I believe he was pre-teens. If he came to the field without the need for any sort of correction for his vision then his actual damages will be whatever medical bills he had for the treatment of the injury AND any and all related medical and equipment bills that he will incure for the rest of his life in order to have his vision corrected to as close as it was before the incedent. In addition, if it is deemed that the injury is sever enough to limit his earning potential (I don't know how you'd determin that with a pre-teen child but courts do) over the course of his lifetime he gets that amount too! So if they say he can now only make $40,000 a year rather than $100,000 a year he gets $60,000 plus that amount adjusted for inflation over the course of his regular working lifetime which is from 18 until 65...or 47 years. Do the math of just 47 times $60,000 and you see how these lawsuits come off with such HUGE numbers. Yes I am exagerating but it is for demonstrative purposes only.

As for the amount, you can bet the insurance company did its best to keep this out of court so they could settle for a lower amount. I'm sure the amount they offered was laughable at best if this child suffered such an injury as to cost him his sight in one eye (and we don't even know what kind of deteroration he may experiance over the course of his life too...it can get worse).

As to how he won that is pretty easy. The barrel condom failed. The barrel condom was rented to the user by the field and is to be in proper working order. If the barrel condom failure was caused by a manufacturing condition undetectable by the field AND the barrel condom is an approved barrel blocking device then the lawsuit would not have gone to the field but rather the barrel condom manufacturer. However, from the sounds of the story the barrel condom was damaged and thus allowed pieces of the paintball round to bypass the condom and damage the child's eye. If this problem was detectible by the field and was overlooked, there is a very good case for neglagence on the field's part and I'm guessing this is how the lawsuit went down. You can also bet that after the accident they went through every barrel condom they had and replaced any that even looked remotely worn out. Had this been a barrel condom that was owned by the player, it is doubtfull the lawsuit would have been directed agaisnt only the field (the case would have been far harder to be won since the attorney would have to prove that it is the field's responsibility to visual inspect all barrel condoms for wear or damage making them unsafe...not impossible...but harder), but also at the owner of the marker with the damaged/defective barrel condom.

Let this be a lesson to all of you. You may not care if you get hurt...but your neglagence at following the saftey rules and taking precautions so that you don't hurt someone might cost you (or your folks) a lot of money in the end. People have lost their homes over stuff like this.

As someone mentioned, you should treat your paintball marker as though it was a real gun. You always aim it away from people...either at the ground or in the air (though I prefer the ground with paintballs as unless you hit an inflated tire the ball will break rather than bounce as opposed to landing lord only knows where if it pointed into the air). You always treat it as locked and loaded...whether it has air in it, paint in the hopper or even no hopper on it. I have heard stories of people who have taken the paint out of their hopper, taken the hopper off, turned off their bottle, taken it off the marker, removed the barrel condom, and shot a paintball through windows or into the ground because the marker still had some air in it, was cocked, they had forgotten the safety, and unbeknownst to them a ball had rolled part way down the barrel and stuck there.

Follow the rules and check your gear. Respect your marker and realize that while it is a game these things can still injure and sometimes kill people (incedent in Boston with the riot police) and thus need to be handled with caution.

[SlartyBartFast]

Awesome post Robotech.

To put the value of a lost eye into perspective, what's the difference between the career possibilities and lifetime earning potential between a top military or civilian mainline pilot (requiring perfect vision) and a bush pilot (if they let you fly at all with one eye) or aircraft technician?

20,000 a year less including retirement means 20,000x20 (considering a reasonable life expectancy of 75-80 yrs). That would be 400,000 dollars in simple damages without adding medical costs, pain and suffering, or punitive damages.

As someone else already said, if choosing between an eye and (a far from won with most going to court costs) 6 million, I'll keep the eye thanks.

[SummaryJudgement]

The range of sight of a new-born is between 20/200 and 20/400. It's basically a rouge blur with little to no detail Just fyi....

Oh, and 6.6 million....are you insane! There are people who get physically assualted or raped, or suffer from negligent doctors and would be given far less in almost any situation. If you want to compensate for medical expenses and "pain and suffering" (which can be far too intangible a thing to equate to a dollar amount IMO) that's understandable.................................... ...................................BUT 6.6 FRIGGIN' DOLLARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's a shame

[FallNAngel]

Oh, and 6.6 million....are you insane! There are people who get physically assualted or raped, or suffer from negligent doctors and would be given far less in almost any situation. If you want to compensate for medical expenses and "pain and suffering" (which can be far too intangible a thing to equate to a dollar amount IMO) that's understandable.................................... ...................................BUT 6.6 FRIGGIN' DOLLARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's a shame

I agree. I understand that the "victim" was young, etc but 6.6mil is rediculous. I'm not quite sure someone could really pay me enough to lose one of my eyes; they're just that important to me. Does that mean I should get 6.6 million? Not really IMO. Going back to what Robotech said (very good post btw), say for the rest of his life he only can make 40k instead of 100k / year. 60k * 47 years is 2.8 million. After adjusting for inflation, medical and pain/suffering we somehow arrive at another 3.8 million. Honestly, that just seems like a lot of money.

I'm sure all of this is coming out wrong and I'm coming off as some jerk saying the kid shouldn't get that much money, I just look at it like this. I previously said I'm not sure someone could pay me enough to lose one of my eyes; in simpler terms, you could call them priceless to me. Does that mean that I deserve 10 billion dollars? No. I'm not trying to say that his eye is worth the change I have in my pocket, but 6.6 million just seems like way too much. I mean like SummaryJudgement said, worse things have happened and people have gotten much less.

[SummaryJudgement]

Indeed....

[Muzikman]

he did not see the man, the man got out of his tree stand at the local hunting club and was going to follow a dear, at this club you must stay in your stand at all times or stay on the trail, the man wasnt on his tree stand or on the trail he was in the middle of the woods. Also he has some permanet brain damage, my dad said he will never go hunting again.

I am still confused. He was hunting deer with a shot gun?

[FallNAngel]

I am still confused. He was hunting deer with a shot gun?

.... must've been hunting some big deer ....

[Gr0dy]

I am still confused. He was hunting deer with a shot gun?

yea, my dad hunted with a 12 gauge, i hunt with a 12 gauge.

[Muzikman]

With shot shell and not pumpkin ball? How do you get close enough to a deer to actually do any harm?

[rabidchihauhau]

You people who are griping about the amount of the award are obviously having a knee-jerk reaction to the "million" word.

Let's assume for a moment that the individual in question is 12 years old.

He can expect to enter the work force at 18 and stay in until he's 70 (they're upping retirement age because they've gutted SS, but that's another discussion).

18 from 70 is 52 years.

Let's assume that his attorney worked on contingency. He get's a third. (Reasonable for injury cases like this)

Let's assume that current and on-going medical expenses come out to 1 million bucks (not unreasonable for the specialists needed in this case).

We take 2.2 million and the 1 million for medical - 3.2 million, gone before the kid ever gets a check.

that leaves 3.4 million, spread out over 52 years, or a little over $65,000 per year.

No matter what you think, it IS reasonable to assume that a one-eyed man is not going to have the opportunities that a two-eyed man has.

If you're not really in the work force (as I suspect of most of you nay-sayers), 65k per year sounds pretty good, but in reality, its a middle-class income and would allow a family of four to live ok, but not great.

In fact, its just about the 'median income' for a family of four in the US. That mean's 'middle of the road' - not starving and not rich.

Its nothing in the greater scheme of things.

The judgement at 6.6 million is completely reasonable, well within guidelines for this sort of thing and not remarkable at all. I think that if you are taking a negative stance towards this judgement you ARE being unreasonable and uncaring, but its probably because you are unable to put it into the proper perspective.