My lawnmower burned up

[ralphw2020]

I filled the gas on my lawnmower and spilled some gas on it and it was dripping on my lawn. I didnt want the gas to kill my lawn so I quickly put on the gas cap and tossed a match on the mower deck to burn off the gas. Somehow the gas in the tank started on fire too, and my mower exploded and burned up, also burning down my garden shed. I only wanted to burn off that spilled gas and I put the gas cap on tightly. Why did the gas tank explode and burn too? Now my whole lawn is burned up and ruined. I am really upset. I think the gas tank on th mower was defective, and on Tuesday I am calling my lawyer to sue the manufacturer of the mower.

Ralph W.

[Main Man]

Have a nice 4th of July!

[Geo]

In spite of the troll, what could be more American than some dumbass suing over his own stupidity.

[Kent Wills]

That's actually pretty funny.

Kent

[Zorro the Geek]

Tuesday is the best day to call lawyers.

[Jon Beaver]

You need to ask yourself how the lawn mower was defective, whether it was being used in the manner intended, and whether the defect was the foreseeable cause of your damages. If you think a reasonable jury of ordinary citizens will believe that, then you should sue the manufacturer and the dealer who sold it to you. But don't mock the law out of ignorance.

- Jon Beaver

[Jim85CJ]

[G Henslee]

?

Probably canuck.

[Jon Beaver]

Yep, that's what he said. Obviously, it wasn't true. But it wasn't a joke either. It's political satire. He's accusing our legal system of being incapable of distinguishing between a fire caused by industrial venality and a fire caused by an idiot. Where perception is reality, the truth is irrelevant; ignorance is it's own reward; everybody's entitled to their opinion; etc.

- Jon Beaver

[Ken Smith]

[snip]

In a sense, I couldn't agree more. There are plenty of compelling reasons to mock American law, but ignorance is not among them. :)

[Don]

Your post is especially interesting to me, because I had a similar problem with my car. The whole car blew up and set my house on fire besides. I would just put the whole thing down to experience, except my grandmother was in the car. Please let me know if you find the right kind of legal help, because I want to sue that motor car company.

[Ernie Klein]

Very true. Have you seen a step ladder lately? You can hardly find the ladder what with all the warning labels -- mostly warning not to do things that only an idiot would do. I like to say that you can't buy a

4ft ladder anymore -- there isn't enough room for all the warning stickers :-)

[Jeff Wisnia]

Which reminds me of...

(Sung to the tune of "My Bonnie lies over the ocean.")

My Bonnie looked into the fuel tank, The depth of its contents to see. I lighted a match to assist her, Oh Bring back my Bonnie to me.

Jeff

[FDR]

Don't sue them. Sue the petroleum company that sold the gas. They have much bigger pockets. Was there any warning by the petroleum manufacturer that gasoline could cause an explosion? No!

[John Willis]

On Mon, 04 Jul 2005 08:46:17 -0700, Jon Beaver scribbled this interesting note:

Correction: Everyone is entitled to an informed opinion...

-- John Willis (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)

[G Henslee]

Those are for the ones they ship to Canada.

[Art]

You should have poured more gas on it to put the fire out. Most people don't know this but gas does not burn in the liquid state.

[jls]

So did your synapse.

[Jon Beaver]

People want a simple world, but we've already eaten the apple. We don't want people suing because of their own negligence, but neither do we want people deliberately preying on the predictable negligence of others. This legal balancing act must look pretty ridiculous to those on either side who can't see the other side of the problem. And when you are making a political statement, it's sometimes useful to pretend there is no other side.

- Jon Beaver

[Gordon Burditt]

They need to assemble a complete set of warning labels (likely in China) *FIRST*, before putting the ladder into it, so they don't ever have a ladder without the warning labels. Then some idiot tries to climb up the stack of warning labels, it collapses, and they sue. So now they need a "THIS IS NOT A LADDER" warning label on the labels, to be removed when they put the ladder in.

Oh, yes, the warning labels completely cover the ladder, so you can't tell whether the metal has rusted or the wood has rotted (or if, in fact, the actual ladder has been stolen) without trying it first.

Just wait until they require the warning labels in all languages in use anywhere (including Klingon, ebonics, 97 varieties of baby talk, and just in case they show up early, Vulcan).

Has anyone seen a warning label on a ladder yet: "WARNING: REPAID LEGAL IS A SCAM, consult competent legal counsel before using this product".

"REPAID LEGAL" is a ficticious scam, any resemblance to any actual scam advertised in this newsgroup is purely coincidental.

Gordon L. Burditt