Family is filing water drinking contest civil suit. Read it here:

[cboy4]

I still feel the radio station deserves everything that comes it way!

( link to lawsuit is posted to the right of the story)

http://www.kcra.com/news/10842107/detail.html

[bleedingheart]

1. in this case, I think the radio station should get sued and then

settle out of court for a big settlement rather than embarrass themselves.

When you own a company you must learn to CYA.

1. Their attorneys should be consulted about all their stupid contests just to cover any dangers.
2. Things they aren't aware of being dangerous should be investigated.
For instance googling the statement "Can drinking too much water be dangerous" will get you a whole lot of links that tell you that yes...it is.


In this case they failed miserably to cover their ass and now a person is dead.

[galadrium]

2. How is the radio station at fault?

[Wizard777]

4. They knew this could result in death and it did.

They had received a warning from a nurse that this could result in death. They also cited a case where it result in death. The DJ's did not protect her from death. Instead they only relied upon their own protection in teh liability waiver. That will be quickly tossed. FRankly they should be charged with manslaughter.

[ET Awful]

5. How about for continually telling the woman to continue despite medical

experts calling the station and explaining the risks?

[jilln]

15. Then presumably the woman heard those warnings too.

Not saying the station doesn't have some fault here, but pretty much anything we do can result in death. The woman could have stopped drinking.

[ET Awful]

21. How do you know she heard the warnings?

She wasn't necessarily listening to the radio station the entire time, she was to check in periodically via phone, etc. with the station.

[jilln]

23. I said "presumably"

Maybe she didn't.

[fasttense]

6. Well, if they offered a game of Russian Roulette with a loaded gun would they be

liable if someone died? How about a contest to see who can push someone off a twenty story building? Seems to me if an individual did this it would be considered murder or at least accessory to murder, why should a corporation or radio station be exempt?

[ProdigalJunkMail]

8. with Russian Roulette you have a chance...

this lady was doomed from the minute she started drinking with a will to win...

sP

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

20. Huh.

So she was the only one participating in the contest?

[ProdigalJunkMail]

22. no...but once she decided she was going to drink

whatever it took to win...she was doomed. It seems the other players had the sense to get out before the electrolyte balance in their systems reached the critical point (not that you would easily know that)...but she kept going.

And I know the comparisson is flawed, but with Russian Roulette you DO have a chance that the chamber will never come up with the bullet. Here, you drink for long enough, you are going to die.

sP

[AngryAmish]

7. If you heard the tape of the contest you would know why

A nurse called in saying what they were doing was dangerous. The DJs laughed at her.

The decedent was complaining of a headache (that was the first sign her brain was swelling). The DJ said (to the effect of) "Your body is 98% water. If you have too much you'll just throw it up." Well, that is completely untrue on a number of levels.

Generally I do agree if one does something dangerous one is solely responsible for hurting yourself. However, they lied about the danger, encouraged her to participate and discouraged her from getting help. They did this to make money - sell advertising. If you hurt someone while trying to make money then you are liable for the damages you cause.

[bleedingheart]

10. I had not heard the part about the nurse calling in to warn them

that adds reckless endangerment to this and someone could sit in prison too...

[tandot]

12. The DJ knew she could die and was totally fine with it:

http://www.kcra.com/news/10775448/detail.html

<snip>

The audio clips include a warning from a listener that the contest was dangerous.

Listener: "I want to say that those people drinking all that water can get sick and die from water intoxication."

DJ: "Yeah, we're aware of that."

DJ: "Yeah, they signed releases so, we're not responsible, it's OK. (laughter) If they get to the point where they have to throw up, then they're going to throw up and then they're out of the contest before they die, so that's good, right?"

<snip>

----------------

I say sue the hell out of them.

[Wizard777]

3. It's manslaughter as far as I'm concerned. n't

[johnnie]

9. I saw where they want to close the station down

I feel bad for the people who had nothing to do with it and are going to lose their jobs.

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

11. She Didn't Win The Contest?

I think they should offer the family a Wii, and see if that makes up for the loss. It's the least they could do.

:-)

:sarcasm:

[AngryAmish]

13. No, she took second

2 tix to the Justin Timberlake concert.

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

14. My Guess

I'm guessing that this has cost the station a whole lot more than a crate full of Wii's, and a stack of free J.T. tickets.

Hope they got their money's worth, because they're about to face some significant legal expenses.

[Berry Cool]

16. If this happened on a college campus as a fraternity hazing ritual

not only the fraternity but the college might be sued because they allowed it to happen at a chartered fraternity. That's why colleges have anti-hazing rules.

No reason this radio station shouldn't get the book thrown at it. It's sad for the innocent people who will lose their jobs, but they will have to find others. I think this whole operation is going down. And the DJ who was stupid enough to assume that people always throw up water before they die of ingesting too much of it should never work in the business again.

[malaise]

17. Youu are 100% correct

That radio station will be out of business shortly. They are going to pay big time and someone may be heading for prison.

[Garbo 2004]

18. Actually it did happen in a frat hazing here in NorCal & the DJ's referenced that on air, jokingly.

It was a widely publicized case. Matthew Carrington was a 21 yr old who died in 2005 of water intoxication resulting from a frat hazing ritual. There were criminal convictions, including involuntary manslaughter. The family also sued the fraternity.

[depakid]

19. It was clearly negligent

though I'm not sure whether the attorneys will get punitive damages for an intentional tort.