Thursday, February 25, 2010

Interesting lawsuit

Look, I don't know what I think of this, really. But there seems to be a certain poetic justice in the idea:

The widow of an Internal Revenue Service employee killed when a disgruntled taxpayer flew his plane into a seven-story building in Austin, Texas, last week is suing the pilot's wife, according to court documents.

Valerie Hunter, the wife of Vernon Hunter, is accusing Sheryl Stack, wife of Andrew Joseph "Joe" Stack III, of negligence, alleging she she knew or should have known that her husband was a threat to others and, thus, could have prevented the attack, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in Travis County District Court.

"Stack was threatened enough by Joseph Stack that she took her daughter and stayed at a hotel the night before the plane crash. [She] owed a duty to exercise reasonable care to avoid a foreseeable risk of injury to others including [Vernon Hunter]," the suit says.

This is from a CNN report that I found here.
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3 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:26 PM

    A woman fleeing from a threatening man is most likely traumatized, and responsible for getting herself and her child to safety...beyond that, she can NOT be held resposible for her husband's actions. Just my opinion...

    annie c

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  2. Oh, you're undoubtedly right, Annie. I was just intrigued by the concept and it does illustrate that famous "law of unintended consequences."

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  3. Anonymous3:06 PM

    Based on my experience, nobody would have believed her if she had tried to tell anyone the guy was dangerous. They would have said she was just trying to get protection for herself by claiming he was dangerous to other people, and, of course, it's always the wife's fault if she's being abused. Hopefully the case will be be thrown out.
    There's a lot to be said for creative lawsuits, though... Sally Lloyd

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