An Obituary printed in the London Times.... Absolutely Dead Brilliant!!

[RainbowDashRadical]

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend,

Common Sense, who has been with us for many years.

No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:

 

-Knowing when to come in out of the rain;

-Why the early bird gets the worm;

-Life isn't always fair;

-And maybe it was my fault.

 

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (Don’t spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (Adults not children are in charge).

 

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place.

Reports of a 6- year old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

 

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

 

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment then their victims.

 

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

 

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot.

She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

 

Common Sense was preceded in death,

-by his parents, Truth and Trust,

-by his wife, Discretion,

-by his daughter, Responsibility,

-and by his son, Reason.

 

He is survived by his 5 stepbrothers;

-I Know My Rights

-I Want It Now

-Someone Else Is To Blame

-I'm A Victim

-Pay Me for Doing Nothing

 

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.

If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

[Edgwyn]

So true and so depressing

[Slawbug]

The McDonald's coffee case gets unfairly made fun of. Actually, it was a meaningful and important case, so far from being an affront to common sense:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald%27s_Restaurants

[nikki.]

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot.

She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

 

Any coffee that causes 'permanent disfigurement' and leads to somebody being 'partially disabled for up to two years' is clearly FAR too hot. The entire cup of coffee ended up on her lap - not a little bit, and she was aware that it was hot. She was simply attempting to remove the lid of the cup to add milk and sugar. During the case, McDonalds admitted that hundreds more people had been burned in similar ways due to the temperature they served their coffee, and that they served their coffee around 40 degrees hotter than other places.

 

...and, as I was typing this, Slarty sniped me. Read the Wikipedia article. And curses for being too slow.

[Kelandon]

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

We're talking about the Times of London, apparently, and this may be true of the U.K., for all I know. But it's not true in the U.S., and it's not true to a potentially horrifying degree. Start with the Castle doctrine and work your way through the "make my day" laws and the "stand your ground" laws.

[Randomizer]

I knew some one that was sued for restraint of trade for having the burglar arrested and refusing to drop the charges in the US. The case was thrown out of court by the judge, but it wasn't until the trial.

[Edgwyn]

While you have all beaten me up about the McDonald's coffee incident before, there are still a lot of things that I will not stick between my legs (high voltage electric cables, hot liquids, radioisotopes, sharp objects, etc) but maybe I am just over protective. That said, there are plenty of other law suits that can go in place of the McDonald's coffee one.

[Slawbug]

Yeah, there are definitely some frivolous lawsuits out there. However, one of the reasons for that is because (by design) we rely on lawsuits for some types of regulatory issues (e.g., consumer protection stuff) rather than just regulating it in the first place. There are at least some benefits to doing it this way, although I agree that having more regulations ahead of time and being stricter about what lawsuits can go forward might make sense.

[Edgwyn]

I do not think that we could solve the product defect problem with regulations. While people manufacture products as cheaply as possible, they generally do not manufacture them to harm the customer as that is bad for repeat business. While I would love to have a common sense test that could prevent certain lawsuits from going forward, that would be difficult to create. I think that limitations on damage awards and especially limitations on punitive damages would be more effective, with for example limits on lawyers fees and the punitive damages going to the consumer products safety commission to pay for their activities as opposed to going to the injured parties and their lawyers.