Family sues Schlitterbahn after 11-year-old loses part of thumb in wave pool

I surprisingly agree with the lawsuit bringer on this one. Schlitterbahn should at least have covered the girl's medical bills, for humane reasons. Unfortunately the family will probably add in the cost of mental anguish or some such nonsense.

Wouldn't the park's insurance cover something like this?

That was the point made in the story... their insurance said no. Presumably, it's Schlitterbahn's insurance company that will defend the suit, but I don't know that for a fact.

I would think the park bears the brunt, if not the entirety, of the responsibility for this accident.

unless the park bought insurance. Then the insurance company bears responsibility

Insurance companies hire many expensive lawyers to help them avoid bearing responsibility. That's probably what's going on here.

This is when I wish our country had a simplified "common sense" practice.

If a case has no "trickery" or "grey areas" the case is quickly dismissed or responsibility is assigned quickly.

For example, the whole hot coffee mcdonalds lawsuit or whatever it was... The lady probably won millions of dollars because she burned herself. That should have been immediately dismissed. Coffee has been HOT forever, it is not a random issue.

Another example is this case... It should go to court and Schlitterbahn should be held accountable immediately (if the paperwork is correct and all that) and all medical bills should be covered and some additional money for pain/suffering.

We drag stuff out WAY too long at times for the most stupid stuff. People sue because it is too easy to win loads of money over the most idiotic reasons.

Hot pickles on a burger, for example!

There's nothing mysterious going on. The insurance company first says, "Sorry, that's a bummer." Next they get sued, and if the liability is obvious, they say, "OK, let's talk." The lawyers hash out a settlement on the condition of confidentiality, and we never hear what happened.

SteveWoA said:

For example, the whole hot coffee mcdonalds lawsuit or whatever it was... The lady probably won millions of dollars because she burned herself. That should have been immediately dismissed. Coffee has been HOT forever, it is not a random issue.

First of all, the coffee was "too hot". McDonald's was serving their coffee at over 180F, which is friggin' HOT. Hot enough to cause tissue damage in only a couple seconds. Coffee should never be hot enough to cause extensive 3rd degree burns that require staying in the hospital for over a week.

Secondly, the lady who was injured asked for $20,000 to cover her medical expenses and lost income. That's not much considering she spent 8 days in the hospital and received skin grafts and two years of follow-up treatment.

Rather than pay the paltry sum, McDonald's refused to offer her more than $800. So, she took them to court, and rightly won after it was shown that McDonald's was serving coffee at a temperature FAR higher than is reasonable.

I'm no fan of frivolous lawsuits. But the "hot coffee" lawsuit was not frivolous. McDonald's was negligent.

And she didn't win millions of dollars. In the end, the settlement was less than $600,000, according the Wikipedia.

The McDonald's suit is the go-to example of people who like to look at headlines and not bother with any of those pesky "facts."

Facts always get in the way of my points, though.

In the scissors-paper-rock game of debate, points always beats facts..