Blitz to close Miami factory, sell assets

[zstyles]

"but if some idiot does everyone around should not be fried"

I agree, but you can't help STUPID and if everyone wants to be coddled and taken care of so that common sense never has a place we will be living in a real Idiocracy very soon..if you haven't seen this movie...yes...watch it.

[AquaMan]

I thought the Pinto reference was strong. Once a company is made aware of product weakness and decides overtly to ignore it (in the case of Pinto, Ford actually balanced the cost of paying off lawsuits vs the cost of an inexpensive engineering correction) they become culpable in resulting injuries. BTW, Ford was notorious for making those cost vs payout analyses that ignored safety. Of course my feeling comes from a juror's perspective, not a lawyers perspective.

To do otherwise means a big change in a lot of practices like bartenders being held responsible for cserving drinks to a drunk with car keys. Or car manufacturers putting 575 hp into cars that are sold to old fat guys with no reflexes and no experience with high speed maneuvers.

[Townsend]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0137523/quotes?qt=qt0479130

Narrator: A new car built by my company leaves somewhere traveling at 60 mph. The rear differential locks up. The car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside. Now, should we initiate a recall? Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one.

Business woman on plane: Are there a lot of these kinds of accidents?

Narrator: You wouldn't believe.

Business woman on plane: Which car company do you work for?

Narrator: A major one.

[Conan71]

I thought the Pinto reference was strong. Once a company is made aware of product weakness and decides overtly to ignore it (in the case of Pinto, Ford actually balanced the cost of paying off lawsuits vs the cost of an inexpensive engineering correction) they become culpable in resulting injuries. BTW, Ford was notorious for making those cost vs payout analyses that ignored safety. Of course my feeling comes from a juror's perspective, not a lawyers perspective.

To do otherwise means a big change in a lot of practices like bartenders being held responsible for cserving drinks to a drunk with car keys. Or car manufacturers putting 575 hp into cars that are sold to old fat guys with no reflexes and no experience with high speed maneuvers.

Perhaps I'm confused by your second paragraph, but you are aware that bartenders and bar owners are held liable now under DRAM shop laws, right?  If someone injured by you can prove you were over-served (credit card receipts and eye-witness accounts are pretty hard to beat) at a bar or restaurant prior to getting in or on your vehicle and driving drunk, that bar or restaurant gets sued right along with you and they do end up paying out. 

[AquaMan]

Perhaps I'm confused by your second paragraph, but you are aware that bartenders and bar owners are held liable now under DRAM shop laws, right?  If someone injured by you can prove you were over-served (credit card receipts and eye-witness accounts are pretty hard to beat) at a bar or restaurant prior to getting in or on your vehicle and driving drunk, that bar or restaurant gets sued right along with you and they do end up paying out. 

Yes, I do. I was referring to Zstyles attitude that stupid people are to blame for these things and how we need to stop litigating such things. If we go that route then stupid drunks alone are to blame for crashing their cars and killing blameless third parties rather than the drunk and the bartender who knowingly kept serving him. I threw in the 575 hp car sold to old fat guys because that's what Chevy is doing with Corvettes and Camaros. They had willingly scaled back horsepower to weight ratios after insurance on muscle cars became prohibitive back in the early seventies. When you put a 375 hp motor (which actually dyno-ed at over 400hp) in a ChevyII engineered to operate with a 120 hp six cylinder motor you find that most of them wrap around telephone poles pretty often. The big three seem to feel bullet proof because I see these new performance cars as being litigation prone.

[guido911]

No. . .they've been the victim of really stupid litigation.  About 4 years ago a neighbor of mine (a few streets down) burn't his 1,600 sf home to the ground, because his fireplace did not have gas, so he thought he would take his gas can from the garage and pour gas on the logs to light a nice fire in the living room.  He did so, and the resulting fireball caused a flash that ignited the Blitz gas container sitting about a foot away from the fireplace.  The house burned down, and he battled his insurance company for about a year.  During that time, he and his lawyer went after Blitz and won.  The house that sits on that lot is now about 2,500sf and he has two Caddys.

You too can do something stupid and make bank!

It looks like it was Blitz's turn at parasitical litigation. Saw it with nursing home litigation first hand in the early 2000s until their money ran out. In this case, it looks like it lasted until a boat load of people lost their jobs.

[heironymouspasparagus]

It looks like it was Blitz's turn at parasitical litigation. Saw it with nursing home litigation first hand in the early 2000s until their money ran out. In this case, it looks like it lasted until a boat load of people lost their jobs.

Another one of those industries that screamed about "unwarranted government intrusion".

When the reality is, the industry needed (and still needs!) the government to climb up every orifice it has and mandate fixes.  Oh, wait - it has done that, but then just ignored enforcement!  Well, maybe they will get it right next time....

[guido911]

Another one of those industries that screamed about "unwarranted government intrusion".

When the reality is, the industry needed (and still needs!) the government to climb up every orifice it has and mandate fixes.  Oh, wait - it has done that, but then just ignored enforcement!  Well, maybe they will get it right next time....

Kinda late for that now. Those who need to feed their families but no longer have jobs are now effed in part by dumbassed consumers.

[AquaMan]

ahem...www.midwestcan.com

Made in America and they are self venting and apparently aren't blowing up.

[godboko71]

ahem...www.midwestcan.com

Made in America and they are self venting and apparently aren't blowing up.

Shhh nothing is ever the businesses fault, it is only users, lawyers, and freeloaders. 

[AquaMan]

The first two gas cans I pulled out of the garage were American made. One vented and one self venting with clear warning labels on the sides.

Still not stupid proof, but good cans.

[Red Arrow]

Or car manufacturers putting 575 hp into cars that are sold to old fat guys with no reflexes and no experience with high speed maneuvers.

Think Darwin Award and hope the old fat guy doesn't take out any innocents.   "You" don't have to buy those cars.   There are plenty of old fat guy wimpy cars available. 

[Red Arrow]

If someone injured by you can prove you were over-served (credit card receipts and eye-witness accounts are pretty hard to beat)

I'll go along with the eye-witnesses but a big credit card bill could have been an act of generosity, not personal consumption. 

[AquaMan]

Think Darwin Award and hope the old fat guy doesn't take out any innocents.   "You" don't have to buy those cars.   There are plenty of old fat guy wimpy cars available. 

It isn't the old fat guys I'm worried about. When the guy stomps on the pedal and the vehicle spins out of control and runs over nearby pedestrians because he saw some commercial that led him to believe that real guys drive these overpowered snarling beasts, that's when I think they may be liable. It doesn't matter that the fine print on the commercial says, "closed track, do not try this in the real world".  They are then in a similar position as the bartender imo.

This actually happened over on Cherry Street a few years ago. Guy pulled his Porche out of a parking lot and floored it. Even a Porche will lose traction under certain conditions. He lost it and ran over a couple of pedestrians. However, you never see Porche advertising their cars as extensions of male anatomy.

[Red Arrow]

ahem...www.midwestcan.com

Made in America and they are self venting and apparently aren't blowing up.

Where did you find they are self venting?  I looked on the website and did not see that.