TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:RE: Stupid users (was the "top this" thread) From:eric -dot- dunn -at- ca -dot- transport -dot- bombardier -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 3 Oct 2003 14:48:10 -0400
Daniel_Hall -at- trendmicro -dot- com wrote on 10/03/2003 02:04:00 PM:
> Funny that they go to such lengths to denigrate the idea
> of "phony" lawsuits, and then in the final paragraph,
> admit that the lawsuits are real. The point isn't really
> that the cases were dismissed, or that "sometimes" they
> never existed. If they were used car salesmen, this would
> be called bait-and-switch. The point is that tort reform
> could help prevent these cases from ever being brought.
Huh?
They say that the reported cases are either phoney OR mis-reported. It doesn't
say anywhere that the phoney cases do exist. I think your reading what you want
into the article.
Can you name one case where all the facts of the case warrant tort reform?
The point they make is that the cases reported to support tort reform are often
taken out of context. Once again the McDonald's case is a good example. The 2.8
million awarded initially (no one bothers mentioning it was lowered to 480,000$
later and then settled out of court for something less) amounts to only 2 days
worth of coffee sales. Two days worth of coffee sales amounting to some small
percentage of overall sales for the two days and perhaps negligible enough to
write-off as a business expense for the year. Hardly a huge fine or deterrent to
stop a company from knowingly putting the public at risk with it's products.
Thankfully the McDonald's case served the public good even if the hit to the
company and incentive to make sure it doesn't happen again was lowered. The
holding temperature is now at a level that is safe to consume and will not cause
more than discomfort and stained clothing.
As a comparison, look at speeding tickets. Get caught and pay a couple of days
wages. If McDonald's as a corporation is to be held accountable to public safety
in the same manner as the average driver, the initial award should probably in
all fairness been two days worth of profit and not just coffee sales.
RoboHelp for FrameMaker is a NEW online publishing tool for FrameMaker that
lets you easily single-source content to online Help, intranet, and Web.
The interface is designed for FrameMaker users, so there is little or no
learning curve and no macro language required! Call 800-718-4407 for
competitive pricing or view a live demo at: http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l3
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
