Every Injury Shouldn’t Result in a Lawsuit – But That’s Just Me

Posted: February 18, 2012 in Contributors, Culture
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In my opinion, fifty-eight year old, Gayane Zokhrabov, has too much time on her hands.  Or maybe her lawyer does.  I’m not sure.  You decide which one is the bonehead.  You might decide neither.

At the same time Zokhrabov was waiting for a commuter train, 18-year old Hiroyuki Joho decided to cross the tracks but got hit instead by the train going 70 mph.  As a result, his body parts went flying all over the place and one large piece flew 100 feet and struck Zokhrabov breaking her wrist.

Well, living in what’s probably the most litigious country in the world, Zokhrabov found a lawyer, Leslie Rosen (or did the lawyer find her?), to sue Joho’s estate as well as the two railway companies.  The trial judge ruled that the train companies bore no responsibility and that she had no claim against Joho because his death was an accident.  Well, she appealed the trial court’s ruling and the Illinois state appeals court overturned part of the decision.

The appeals court upheld the decision that the train companies were not responsible for her injuries.  However, it tossed out the second part of the decision and found that “it was reasonably foreseeable” that crossing the tracks in the path of an oncoming train could present a risk to those in the immediate environment.  In other words, Joho was guilty of negligence.

According to her lawyer, “if you do something as stupid as this guy did, you have to be responsible for what comes from it.”

Well, I agree that the 18-year old was about as dumb as they come when he tried to cross the tracks in the path of an Amtrak train speeding towards him.  But what exactly do Rosen and her client expect to collect?  The kid’s Nintendo?  Or maybe his X-Box?  Or his iPod?  Exactly what kind of an estate does this 18-year old have?

Maybe they’ll drop the case now that there are no longer any deep pockets, i.e., the train companies.  But why include the kid in the lawsuit in the first place?  Yeah, he was stupid; yeah, he should win aDarwin award; and, yeah, he should’ve figured out that he couldn’t beat the train.  He guessed wrong and paid the ultimate price for his stupidity.  Maybe if Zokhrabov suffered life-threatening injuries I’d feel a little different.  But do we really need another lawsuit over a broken wrist?

Just because something happens which is someone else’s fault doesn’t warrant a lawsuit.  I’m sure the parents are suffering far more pain over the loss of their child than Zokhrabov is suffering from her broken wrist.  Legally, she may have a case, but I just can’t see how she can bring herself to file the lawsuit against the guy’s estate.

I don’t get it, but if you do, God bless you.

Author Bio:

For over twenty years, Leona has tried to heed her husband’s advice, “you don’t have to say everything you think.” She’s failed miserably. Licensed to practice law in California and Washington, she works exclusively in the area of child abuse and neglect. She considers herself a news junkie and writes about people and events on her website, “I Don’t Get It,” which she describes as the “musings of an almost 60-year old conservative woman on political, social and cultural life in America.” It’s not her intention to offend anyone who “gets it.” She just doesn’t. Originally from Brooklyn, and later Los Angeles, she now lives with her husband, Michael, on a beautiful island in the Pacific Northwest, which she describes as a bastion of liberalism.
Author website: http://www.idontgetit.us
  • Roger Ward

    The issue here is that most, if not all, Americans feel they have the God-given right to live their lives entirely free of any adverse circumstance …. and if anything untoward should happen to them, then, by Jesus, someone is going to pay for adversely affecting their lives. This litigious inclination is aided and abeted by a very large number of lawyers who are determined to make someone – anyone – pay. Whatever happened to the idea that sometimes shit just happens?

  • Ron F

    The Court of Appeal decision states the plaintiff sufferred a shoulder injury, a leg fracture and a wrist fracture. Since the defendant is the estate of the young man, I assume that the estate has money. If it does not, there is no recovery. The only issue decided in the case so far is that the deceased owed a duty to the plaintiff. The Court of Appeal did not decide if the young man was negligent. We are always upset about what we consider frivolous lawsuits, but how many of us if harmed by someone else’s negligence would not sue. I might not for a wrist fracture but what about a leg fracture and a wrist fracture? Finally, what about the people who are harmed and do not recover.

    • Drew Page

      I’ll tell you what happens. The same thing that happens when you are struck by a driver who is in this country illegally, has no insurance, driver’s license or even a permanent address. The victim gets nothing. Where are all the ambulance chasers then?

  • Railroaded

    There are some truly horrible people who happen to be lawyers in this country. Sadly these are the ones who get most of the attention from the media. Several years ago I was almost killed in a railroad accident. I’m permanently disabled as a direct result. I met ambulance chasers and good lawyers while simultaneously dealing with neurologists and orthopedic surgeons. Some decide to “get even” or get “their share” since “everyone else” does it. The people behind many of these suits are at least as reprehensible as their attorneys. I believe litigiousness is a larger cultural issue. Some people are going to try to find ways to enrich themselves without any thought of consequences and sometimes these people are enabled by others who happen to be lawyers.

  • Gena Taylor

    I agree with you as I usually do. This woman should be embarrassed to show her face, sueing the estate of an 18 year old boy who has died, when all she suffered was a broken wrist. And the lawyer involved, he will end up where most lawyers will end up, sitting near the likes of Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Soros, on and on and on, in hell discussing how the hell did they end up in hell. Maybe they can try sueing God or the Devil as I’m sure they will feel they are in the wrong place.

  • Florida Jim

    Lawyers have the level of politicians, lobbyists, used car salesman, agents,MSNBC and NBC slugs in the hierarchy of people bad for the country. Lawyers dream up laws, have them entered into the legislature and then begin the lawsuits which favor more lawyers the cycle never ends.Many in our country look upon lawsuits as winning the lottery sparked by Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton among others.

  • wally

    I agree with almost everything you say. The law suit did not have any merit and should not have been attempted. We see too many of these type of law suits. This results in the additional costs that are then paid by the tax payer for more court rooms etc. The item that concerns me is your statement that if Zohkrabov received permanent injuries, you might feel differently. You shouldn’t. It was still an accident that wasn’t anyone’s fault but you think it could be if a permanent injury occurred? In other words, you would litigate for the injured to make someone else pay?

  • Shane

    Suing a guy who got creamed by a train has got to be one of the worst legal cases of the year. What is wrong with people? Do they always have to make somebody pay for their own misfortunes?

  • Bruce A.

    What kind of truly rotten lawyer would find merit in case to file it. One would think it would be tossed out for lack of merit.

    • Drew Page

      Isn’t the term “rotten lawyer” redundent?

  • Dave O’Connor

    Who represents “ambulance chasers’ when they cause traffic accidents? That would be the reaching the “Gold Ring”.
    How many “sidewalk engineers” file for unemployment when a building is completed? The NLRB?
    Of course, was the body part that flew 100 feet and broke the plainntiff’s wrist saved and presented at evidence in court?
    Now, how about the court costs in terms of resources and man-hours? (Just on the cuff of the courts – translate: taxpayers)
    There’s the BS, MS (More of the same) and the PhD (Piled higher and Deeper).

  • ted wight

    Other than union bosses, where else will the Democratic Party get its fuel to keep America under continuing subjugation?

  • chief98110

    The silly person in me wants to make some puns about this tragic death and ensuing results but I will pull myself together and suggest that the real tragedy is the litigious nature of Americans. This of course is fueled by the inordinate amount of TV ads alerting people to their supposed rights and “you may be entitled to money compensation”.
    My wife and I, in our travels to other countries, see that this phenomenon is almost exclusive to the good old USA. In most countries you pick yourself up off the ground and deal with the result.
    When this kind of event happens in the USA, it seems that someone yells out, “BINGO” as if they just won a jackpot. Clearly this was the case here, thinking that the railway would cough up some money. Praises to the judge who could see through the issue and severed the liability issues(sorry).

    • Gena Taylor

      I just have this to say about those ambulance chaser ads. I figure those folks have people reading all the medical literature to find any medicine that might be causing serious problems. That is usually the first warning those of us ordinary people get that these meds might be causing problems. The only real attention I pay to those ads is that if after I see one of those ads I have a doctor try to prescribe one of those meds I ask for another option. they serve a purpose other than for people trying to make bucks off this sort of stuff, not an intended purpose but a real purpose.

  • Mark Rhoades

    May the ghost of Palsgraf visit you with a box of firecrackers for writing such heresy!

    • Leona Salazar

      OMG, you just brought make horrific memories of my days in law school. I think I feel PTSD coming on. Who can I sue?

  • seanog

    Yes, when lawyer chase ambulances for business, we have too many lawyers.

  • Drew Page

    What do you call 100,000 lawyers at the bottom of the sea? A good start.

    Take a look at the approval rating of both Houses of Congress. Maybe the fact that the vast majority of them are lawyers has something to do with it.

  • cmacrider

    Leona: As one lawyer to another, let me ask you this question: Do you not think that this “reasonably foreseeable” test has transcended the bounds of credibility? Simply because damage occurs does not axiomatically mean that the damage was reasonably foreseeable by the average reasonable person. So this kid who walked in front of a train may have been able to foresee that he might not make it. But would he then “foresee” that his body parts would fly 100 feet and strike an onlooker? I’ve often thought that Lord Atkin in Donahue v. Stephenson laid down that you must be able to foresee the specific type of damage with ultimately occurs … not simply that you should foresee “some kind of damage would likely ensue.” The widening of the scope of “reasonable foreseeability” basically just opened the floodgates of litigation and produced the absurdity of which you quite correctly criticize.

    • Leona Salazar

      You’re absolutely right but I probably wouldn’t have a really good answer for you until I locate a barrister’s wig…

  • Roger Ward

    Are we the most litigious country because we have too many lawyers …. or do we have too many lawyers because we’re so litigious?

    Leslie Rosen, attorney for the injured, should be shamed and should feel ashamed for her part in bringing this action.

    • Leona Salazar

      I find the Judge Judy program (I want to be Judge Judy when I grow up) to be a microcosm of our society. I would say 95% of the lawsuits filed on her program reflect a plaintiff’s or defendant’s failure to take personal responsibility for their actions.

  • Nancye

    This country has become a regular “sue city” for every jerk that wants to sue somebody to get money. Geeeeeezzzzzz !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Glen Stambaugh

    She should be awarded his shattered IPhone.