Next time you think that torts exams are too fanciful, consider the potential case of Australian tourist Erin Langworthy, 22, in Zimbabwe. Langworthy arranged to jump off the Victoria Falls bridge, but received a bit of a nasty surprise when the bungee cord snapped and there was not back up cord. Oh, and I forgot to mention, she was bungeeing above crocodile-infested waters.
Langworthy hit the crocodile-infested waters with her feet tied together. She had to swim with her feet tied but was not serious injured.
Clearly, there is a powerful assumption of risk defense here as well as a likely signed waiver. However, there is an impressive level of negligence here. First there is the bungee. Second the absence of a back up cord and, third, the location of the jumps over crocodile-infested waters. The only think missing is a gun ranger shooting from both sides of the gorge. Should assumption of the risk be a complete defense in such a case? Even if this is treated as an ultra-hazardous activity, assumption remains a defense. Of course, any assumption of the risk involved a likely assumption that the bungee cord was in reasonable shape. The assumption should apply to those foreseeable aspects of bungee jumping from the plunge and bounce. Can a defendant claim that a broken bungee is also foreseeable — and by extension swimming with really ticked off crocodiles?
In this country, we have seen high liability award in broken cord cases involving bungees or zip lines. One case involved Chinese bungee cords that are allegedly prone to failures. These cords are used in an assortment of recreational settings, as shown in this video.
Source: Daily Mail
now i have to clean the monitor and keyboard.
For some reason the wordpress problems are only on this thread. I have no problem on the other threads.
HenMan,
WordPress took my response and placed it in their spam basket … I will try again:
Be honest … it was a beginner’s jump and the fall was only 2 feet. It just seemed longer ’cause you were screaming so loudly. And pete is being evasive … you didn’t really set yourself ablaze … he was throwing firecrackers at you
HenMan
it was very lucky you set yourself on fire before jumping. piranhas don’t like their food cooked.
Oh yeah, screw you Automattic! F U Matt Mullenweg! F U!
A kiss this you bastards!
@OS,
“I think that Jeb Corliss should be the poster boy for risk taking.”
I think that’s debatable.
Erin, a tourist, doesn’t know squat about bungee jumping. She doesn’t know the safety record, or the history of that particular cord, or how to calculate how much cord is needed. So she puts her life in the hands of a bunch of recent college grad adrenaline junkies who at 23 believe they are immortal and assuring her of how bungee jumping is, and WHAT A THRILL!!!!!!
Corliss, a professional, probably has thousands of jumps in parachutes and wingsuits from planes, cliffs, buildings. Corliss has certainly watched colleagues crater, and Corliss probably designs his own equipment, and works with a team to plan (as best as possible) his descents. With lots of $$, lots of assistance and assistants, test runs, and the like, he goes.
I’m not saying what Corliss is doing is not risky, but in some ways, Erin’s decision is riskier.
That said, I will be terribly sad should Corliss die, and I am very glad that Erin made it out of that river under some terribly adverse conditions (legs tied, bungee caught in rocks and pulling her below water, her very bruised.)
I so want to see Corliss figure out how to land without a chute.
F U Automattic! F F F F F F U U U U U U
#OccupyThread
HenMan
I did that once and it was a lot of fun. But lighting myself on fire was a bad idea-that’s what caused the bungee cord to snap. Also, it was a beginner’s jump, so they only had piranhas in the water.
===========================================
Be honest, as a beginner’s jump, the drop was only 2 feet … it just seemed further ’cause you were screaming so loud.
Thank you Gene,
Rereading this thread is pretty hilarious.
Akismet software IS written by Automattic which is WordPress. So same software, different developers. (SSDD)
Akismet should have an error rate of 1% at most, not 99%.
#OccupyThread
What is the legal situation in Zimbabwe? In some places like New Zealand you assume the risk and you have no legal recourse if things go wrong…which is why all the fun stuff is in New Zealand.
Okay, I went in and tried to manually clear out the problem. It’s not WordPress proper, nothing is going directly to moderation. It’s being flagged instead as spam, which to my understanding is a function of the Askimet software. I took the comments I could find, moved them out of spam and approved them.
I give up.
WORDPRESS SUCKS!
I just lost a comment. I won’t loose this one of course; Oh NO
Only the ones with substance.
There’s no place like home
Thheerree”ss nonononoooo play-ay-ay-ay-ce like it or not-ot-ot hom-ome-ome-ome
It seems to me that by now; it should be understood that from time to time; bungees break.
So if she voluntarily chose to jump with or without a waiver; she should be responsible for her accident.
Unless the facility who equipped and promoted the jump could be shown negligent in it’s maintenance of the equiptment or (unlikely) maliscious in sabotaging the equiptment.
As far as the Crocs go. No worries mate. They was all ;avin there midday nap anyway.
We are having
WE ARE HAVING
difficulties
DIFFICULTIES
posting to this blog
POSTING TO THIS BLOG.
The software
THE SOFTWARE
never posts the comment
NEVER POSTS THE COMMENT
I’d like to ask
I’D LIKE TO ASK
For a consensus
FOR A CONSENSUS
That wordpress sucks
THAT WORDPRESS SUCKS
\\\\/ \////
\\\\/ \////
I’m still waiting for my comment to post on the Seal thread. Of course you won’t know that if this doesn’t post either.
#OccupyThread
What do we want?
Competent Software!!
When do we want it?
NOW!!!!!!
¡Las palabras, unido, jamás será vencido!
anon and OS-
Ditto to WordPress!
I did that once and it was a lot of fun. But lighting myself on fire was a bad idea-that’s what caused the bungee cord to snap. Also, it was a beginner’s jump, so they only had piranhas in the water.
She doesn’t want me on the jury.
She was on the tele and we heard her accent. No problem with the gators, they would think she was one of them.