Category Archives: Frivolity

Show me on TV and I’ll Sue!!!

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Every once in a while you hear about a lawsuit that someone has filed which constitutes a real head-scratcher. The kind that makes you wonder where our http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photo-couple-watching-tv-image24768815legal system is going. This week we were treated with a lawsuit filed by a man, Andrew Rector of New York, who was caught by ESPN cameras sleeping during a baseball game, and who feels he has been defamed because the announcers found that funny and commented about it. He seeks more than $10 million in damages from ESPN, its announcers, the New York Yankees and Major League Baseball.

I’ll be the first to admit that while I love baseball, there are times when the games move slowly, get a little boring or tedious, and I have also nodded off at a few, only to be elbowed by my wife to keep me from dribbling mustard on my clothes from the hot dog I hold in a death grip during my little snooze. If I had ever thought that there might be money in such trips to dreamland, however, I’d opt for seats in a more camera-friendly location of my local stadium.

What I think Mr. Rector and his attorney should consider before pursing this litigation much further is just how often we are all seen on video each day. Every person now sports the technological equipment in their hand to videotape every fight, argument, fall, stumble, arrest, nose-picking, earwax sniffing, wardrobe malfunction, and yes, sleeping incident, and they do so, and post them all to You-Tube constantly. Is ESPN more liable because they disseminate their video as part of their “for profit” business? I don’t think so. The fact of the matter is that when we step outside, we have essentially abandoned our “expectation of privacy”. If ESPN had not captured Mr. Rector’s nap, but someone else had done so on a cell phone and uploaded it to You-Tube, who becomes liable for his “damages” then?

Most sporting event tickets have a disclaimer on the back warning the attendee that he/she may be injured by thrown or batted balls, flying pucks or golf balls, etc. Must they now add a disclaimer that reminds those attending sporting events that, because virtually every sporting event is televised, they run the risk of actually being SEEN by others on television? In fact, isn’t that attention what most of the nuts waving at the camera behind home plate and elsewhere in the stadium actually lust for and seek out?

Mr. Rector claims that by disseminating his unseemly appearance snoozing through the game, with a comment or two about his activity (or lack thereof), it subjected him to “character and reputational” injury, and caused him loss of earning capacity. Seriously? We have been treated in recent years to late night TV hosts showing congressional aides sleeping or picking their noses behind senators during various hearings, Morgan Freeman drifting off during an interview, a news reporter’s on-air gibberish from a possible stroke, and even Vice President Biden apparently napping during a speech by President Obama. Do all of them have a claim for monetary damages because these videos were made public? If they do, and if a claim such as Mr. Rector’s is allowed to be pursued, we have entered a new era of civil litigation that is likely to overwhelm our legal system with unending lawsuits.

But at least if I trip on someone’s sidewalk, I can always hope that somebody catches it on camera and promotes it, thereby affording me the opportunity to seek compensation for my reputational damage due to my own clumsiness, if not for my actual physical injuries themselves…

If the suit fits…

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http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-handsome-black-boy-child-baggy-business-suit-image23110144Although I think the most quoted line from Shakespeare is probably “To be or not to be”, I surmise that the most popular is “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers” (Henry the Sixth). Where one might be cautious about telling religious, ethnic or dirty jokes at a social gathering, garnering laughs at the expense of lawyers seem to be universally accepted. What causes society’s general disdain for our profession (ranked above only “used car salesman” in many polls of the least trustworthy occupations)? One need only look to a recent law suit filed in New York.

According to the Daily News, a Manhattan attorney named Robert Ginsberg filed suit against Brooks Brothers for $7,646 over having apparently been given the wrong suit. It seems Mr. Ginsberg bought a suit (for $646) for which some alterations were to be done before he was to take it home. He did so in January, but apparently did not open the garment bag until March, and found that it was NOT the suit he purchased, but was a simple blazer and slacks, and several sizes too big. He claims he tried to return the suit to the store but they would not accept it or refund his money. Now in defense of Mr. Ginsberg, anyone who is given the wrong item in such a situation would likely be upset, and if the store refused to accommodate you, filing a small claim action might even be a viable option. In this case, that would be a claim for the $646 out of pocket. But Mr. Ginsberg also sought $2000 for the 90 minutes he “wasted” arguing with the Brooks Brothers staff. That’s a hell of an hourly rate, and one that we aren’t likely to see in the Midwest until another 100 years of inflation has come and gone. Moreover, he sought $5000 in “punitive” damages. As most people know, punitive damages are to punish a defendant for egregious conduct. Really? Does he think Brooks Brothers personnel meticulously planned this devious bait and switch? They gave him the wrong suit by accident…something that we would have realized the same day if he’d taken a look in the bag when he got home (assuming his time was too valuable to glance at the alterations in the store before leaving).

Lest you think that perhaps Mr. Ginsberg just got overzealous this one time, he also was in the news in the past when he sued American Airlines for having allegedly been “pushed” by a flight attendant into a food cart that he couldn’t squeeze past in the aisle of an airplane. In that case he purportedly sought $2 million. I guess that event must have wasted a lot more than 90 minutes of his time.

For a lot of attorneys,  business is slow these days. But trying to generate business as a result of one’s own ignorance isn’t likely to be a successful practice niche. And another oft-quoted adage is “a man who is his own lawyer has a fool for a client”.