The Stupidest Lawsuit of All Time

nolaegghead

fishlessman said:

SaintJohnsEgger said:

I've never understood why they are measured that way but I've known about it for years. 

Just some lawyers fleecing their customers. an winnings will wind up in the lawyers pockets not the plaintiffs and we will all end up paying more for lumber.

non kilned rough cut lumber at the saw mill is true to size, the boards finished and dried are smaller.

Historically, this was true, but the standard minimum dimensions were reduced twice by 4% each time since then.  Today's lumber didn't start out at its nominal dimensions.

HeavyG

DoubleEgger said:

Eoin said:

gdenby said:

I have an old friend who has spent decades remodeling houses dating back as far as the 1860s........

My first house was older than that, nothing was square. We had a lot of wood cut to size to match the old stuff, or used reclaimed and adjusted it.

1860s is new by European standards 

I recall watching one of the late shows on tv a few decades ago (Carson?) and the guests on the couch were a young USA actress  and an actor from Ireland or Scotland.

The young actress was talking about her hometown and how it was an old town from colonial days and she proudly mentioned that the oldest house in her town was something like 280 years old.

The young actor chirped up and said that "well, the newest house in my town is older than that!".

Everyone was laughing except the young actress who seemed rather shocked.

Hans61

Will see if there's a settlement or a verdict, if they get money it wasn't stupid :-)

DoubleEgger

Hans61 said:

Will see if there's a settlement or a verdict, if they get money it wasn't stupid :-)

If they get a dime, then Mickey is right. 

bud812

If this was out here in Ca. then it would be a sure win.

NPHuskerFL

The question would be what's to gain from said lawsuit? BESIDE $$$
Will the lumber go back to the dimensions of almost a century ago? Or will they simply list nominal dimensions?  My guess is the 2nd at the most. That's if the suit has legs.

stlcharcoal

o Kcheves said:

blasting said:

Kcheves said:

bigbadben said:

Not sure I agree.  I still think the person who sued McDs for serving them hot coffee wins. I will agree this is a close second. 

This is frequently used as an example of a frivolous lawsuit, bit the plaintiff in that case was hospitalized for eight days while she underwent skin grafting, followed by two years of medical treatment.  And it was settled for a fraction of the amount that was awarded.

She may have had injuries, but it was still a frivolous lawsuit.  

She purchased hot coffee and spilled it on herself - McDonalds didn't spill it on her.  

I've been injured since Christmas, with another solid 6 months to go.  My injury has incapacitated me a lot longer than coffee grandma.  I could have filed a frivolous suit and got some "go away" money.  However, my injury was my fault - to blame someone else would be an erosion of character.  These days people will sell there integrity for a few zeros on a check.  No thanks.

You should read the analyses of the case. It's not that cut and dried.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Subway's foot long sandwich case...

Edit: Sorry you were injured.  Good luck with your recovery.

Yes, read the McD's case.....it's pretty interesting.  It was an elderly lady, and the 190F coffee spilled in her lap leaving third degree burns--she had to have skin grafts.   She sued McD's basically for her medical expenses which was only $25,000 or so.  They told her to stick it.  She eventually got around $200K I believe when it settled.  But it was never a big case until it got on the news, then the lawyers made a circus out of it.

The other case out there recently was the Starbucks one for the cold coffee.  I don't know whatever happened in it, but it kind of made sense.  You order 12oz of hot coffee, you get 12oz of coffee; you order 12 oz of the cold one and they dump 6 oz of ice & 6 oz of coffee and charge you the same.  I guess it's still a 12oz drink, but I kind of get it.  They should ice it down first rather than watering it down.  I don't drink coffee, so I don't really care.

There was similar case to this I remember from grad school involving KFC.  They had a "weight watchers" meal or something like that which had 25% less fat.  They took the standard 8oz serving, cut it down to 6oz, raised the price a buck, and sold it as 25% less fat.  Can't do that......no matter how genius it was.

caliking

I'm all for this.  

I'm planning to build a table for my BBQ patio and I'm going nuts trying to find red cedar for it. Each place seems to have a different actual thickness for the stated nominal thickness. Sounds bizarre that a 1" board is more like 3/4", and 3/4" is more like 1/2". Why? WHY?!?!?

Skiddymarker

slovelad said:

fishlessman said:

SaintJohnsEgger said:

I've never understood why they are measured that way but I've known about it for years. 

Just some lawyers fleecing their customers. an winnings will wind up in the lawyers pockets not the plaintiffs and we will all end up paying more for lumber.

non kilned rough cut lumber at the saw mill is true to size, the boards finished and dried are smaller.

I always thought that it was for construction purposes. Because the standard wall in a house is 4 inches thick.  A 2x4 with 2 1/4 inch drywall pieces. 

Walls are 4-1/2", 3-1/2" of stud plus two 1/2" drywall sheets. 

Lumber, rough sawn used to be 2"x4". When it is dried and they plane it you get a "2X4" that is 1-1/2" X 3-1/2". Thinner wood, like a board shrinks less, so 1" lumber is planed to a 3/4" finish. 

@SaintJohnsEgger be interesting to see if your lumber prices do go up when the 25% duty the US just put on Canadian softwood kicks in. The US lumber Companies are very happy. 

CanadianAnvil

Skiddymarker said:

slovelad said:

fishlessman said:

SaintJohnsEgger said:

I've never understood why they are measured that way but I've known about it for years. 

Just some lawyers fleecing their customers. an winnings will wind up in the lawyers pockets not the plaintiffs and we will all end up paying more for lumber.

non kilned rough cut lumber at the saw mill is true to size, the boards finished and dried are smaller.

I always thought that it was for construction purposes. Because the standard wall in a house is 4 inches thick.  A 2x4 with 2 1/4 inch drywall pieces. 

Walls are 4-1/2", 3-1/2" of stud plus two 1/2" drywall sheets. 

Lumber, rough sawn used to be 2"x4". When it is dried and they plane it you get a "2X4" that is 1-1/2" X 3-1/2". Thinner wood, like a board shrinks less, so 1" lumber is planed to a 3/4" finish. 

@SaintJohnsEgger be interesting to see if your lumber prices do go up when the 25% duty the US just put on Canadian softwood kicks in. The US lumber Companies are very happy. 

We in Canada aren't done with the softwood lumber, here's a good piece of info. 

https://www.google.ca/amp/www.macleans.ca/politics/bryan-baeumler-explains-the-softwood-lumber-dispute/amp/

RRP

Focker said:

Working in the big box lumberyard, 1/3 not knowing the dimensions of a 4x4 is quite low actually, 1/2 is more accurate.

Reminds me of my favorite uncle's story:

Background: He and my Aunt owned an dependent hardware store in Muscatine, IA for nearly 50 years. Back then a customer would hit the door and a clerk was expected to be there RIGHT then and answer their question. 

Well, anyway they hired a new pious gray haired lady and the first day on the job she met a customer at the door! She dutifully greeted him with the response "Welcome to Ryan Hardware, Sir. How Make I help you...his reply was "I need a flat bastard file." And the "gray hair" went ballistic telling my uncle she QUIT!!! 

He told her to calm down - a "flat bastard" is a proper name for a metal file!

That seemed to cool her down. Then about 3 hours later a guy walked in and she greeted him. He said he needed a file - She said "oh, a flat bastard one?" and he replied "No just one of those round mother f*ckers"!

She fainted and quit the next day!

DoubleEgger

That's a good one Ron 

nolaegghead

RRP said:

Focker said:

Working in the big box lumberyard, 1/3 not knowing the dimensions of a 4x4 is quite low actually, 1/2 is more accurate.

Reminds me of my favorite uncle's story:

Background: He and my Aunt owned an dependent hardware store in Muscatine, IA for nearly 50 years. Back then a customer would hit the door and a clerk was expected to be there RIGHT then and answer their question. 

Well, anyway they hired a new pious gray haired lady and the first day on the job she met a customer at the door! She dutifully greeted him with the response "Welcome to Ryan Hardware, Sir. How Make I help you...his reply was "I need a flat bastard file." And the "gray hair" went ballistic telling my uncle she QUIT!!! 

He told her to calm down - a "flat bastard" is a proper name for a metal file!

That seemed to cool her down. Then about 3 hours later a guy walked in and she greeted him. He said he needed a file - She said "oh, a flat bastard one?" and he replied "No just one of those round mother f*ckers"!

She fainted and quit the next day!

Wow!  Your uncle's story is now folklore! 

https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1q2jg3/a_lady_takes_her_first_job/

nolaegghead

...and

https://sofarfromheaven.com/tag/bastard-files/

RRP

nolaegghead said:

RRP said:

Focker said:

Working in the big box lumberyard, 1/3 not knowing the dimensions of a 4x4 is quite low actually, 1/2 is more accurate.

Reminds me of my favorite uncle's story:

Background: He and my Aunt owned an dependent hardware store in Muscatine, IA for nearly 50 years. Back then a customer would hit the door and a clerk was expected to be there RIGHT then and answer their question. 

Well, anyway they hired a new pious gray haired lady and the first day on the job she met a customer at the door! She dutifully greeted him with the response "Welcome to Ryan Hardware, Sir. How Make I help you...his reply was "I need a flat bastard file." And the "gray hair" went ballistic telling my uncle she QUIT!!! 

He told her to calm down - a "flat bastard" is a proper name for a metal file!

That seemed to cool her down. Then about 3 hours later a guy walked in and she greeted him. He said he needed a file - She said "oh, a flat bastard one?" and he replied "No just one of those round mother f*ckers"!

She fainted and quit the next day!

Wow!  Your uncle's story is now folklore! 

https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1q2jg3/a_lady_takes_her_first_job/

WHOA - excuse me - it was my uncle's favorite story which he liked to tell as if it was his experience. Anything wrong with that?

nolaegghead

RRP said:

nolaegghead said:

RRP said:

Focker said:

Working in the big box lumberyard, 1/3 not knowing the dimensions of a 4x4 is quite low actually, 1/2 is more accurate.

Reminds me of my favorite uncle's story:

Background: He and my Aunt owned an dependent hardware store in Muscatine, IA for nearly 50 years. Back then a customer would hit the door and a clerk was expected to be there RIGHT then and answer their question. 

Well, anyway they hired a new pious gray haired lady and the first day on the job she met a customer at the door! She dutifully greeted him with the response "Welcome to Ryan Hardware, Sir. How Make I help you...his reply was "I need a flat bastard file." And the "gray hair" went ballistic telling my uncle she QUIT!!! 

He told her to calm down - a "flat bastard" is a proper name for a metal file!

That seemed to cool her down. Then about 3 hours later a guy walked in and she greeted him. He said he needed a file - She said "oh, a flat bastard one?" and he replied "No just one of those round mother f*ckers"!

She fainted and quit the next day!

Wow!  Your uncle's story is now folklore! 

https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/1q2jg3/a_lady_takes_her_first_job/

WHOA - excuse me - it was my uncle's favorite story which he liked to tell as if it was his experience. Anything wrong with that?

No criticism intended on my part, Ron... I was congratulatory that his story of he and his aunt made it into the wild.

SGH

stlcharcoal said:

There was similar case to this I remember from grad school involving KFC.  They had a "weight watchers" meal or something like that which had 25% less fat.  They took the standard 8oz serving, cut it down to 6oz, raised the price a buck, and sold it as 25% less fat.  Can't do that......no matter how genius it was.

I have to side with KFC on this one. Anyone that is trying to lose weight and goes to eat at a place that serves deep fried chicken (and pretty much deep fried everything else) deserves to get fukked. I have a new found respect for KFC.