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
I notice it posts frustrations only, but not opinions.
I’ve tried posting four times on this thread. I give up.
it seems to be, Mike. the general consensus seems to be “don’t eat chinese spam, it’s made out of goat”.
Aussie girls are way cute.
Okay, once again. A broken ankle is an assumed risked. Strained muscles are an assumed risk. Knocking oneself senseless on the bridge on the way down or up is an assumed risk. A broken bungee ought to fall into the category of strict liability in tort.
Is this thread working yet?
Thanks Gene!
OS,
Let me have a chance to talk to the Professor about that. I’ve been meaning to raise that as a general editorial issue, but it keeps getting set aside for one reason or another. I’ll move it up in the queue.
***********
anon,
If the problem spreads to other threads, I’ll go back in again, but right now it seems to be confined to this thread. When I checked both the moderation and spam filters earlier, everything in moderation was supposed to be there. That queue I can exercise a lot more control over than the spam filter. We’re all a bit at the mercy of Askimet there. Since the problem is sporadic and without any detectable pattern, I say let’s give them a chance to get it together. Feel free to insult goats in the mean time.
Let’s see if the third time is a charm. A broken ankle is an assumed risk. Strained muscles are an assumed risk. Knocking oneself senseless on the bridge on the way down or up is an assumed risk. A broken bungee ought to fall into the category of strict liability in tort.
Gah! That posts.
I heard from the rumor mills that the staff at Akismet screw goats.
“I think its symptomatic that life on Earth has become to easy when people so willingly take unnecessary risks with their life & well being.”
I don’t think this woman, or many or most bungee jumpers know its true safety record.
I think they are advertised as “our company is proud of its perfect safety record” and so they think this is a slightly exotic Dizzyland ride.
Akismet is famed for putting retards to work, so they got that going for them.
“I think its symptomatic that life on Earth has become to easy when people so willingly take unnecessary risks with their life & well being.”
I don’t think this woman, or many or most bungee jumpers know its true safety record.
I think they are advertised as “our company is proud of its perfect safety record” and so they think this is a slightly exotic Dizzyland ride.
I had a comment eaten in response to OS that I think this woman is actually a bigger risk taker than Jeb Corliss because he has everything planned out while she just leaves everything to a bunch of recent college graduate adrenaline junkies working a cool eco job at Victoria Falls.
But maybe that’s wrong. If she has no idea of what the risks are, and most of us would not, than maybe she is just misinformed and not a risk taker.
ObFUWordpress: F U WordPress!
“I think its symptomatic that life on Earth has become to easy when people so willingly take unnecessary risks with their life & well being.”
I don’t think this woman, or many or most bungee jumpers know its true safety record.
I think they are advertised as “our company is proud of its perfect safety record” and so they think this is a slightly exotic Dizzyland ride.
I had a comment eaten in response to OS that I think this woman is actually a bigger risk taker than Jeb Corliss because he has everything planned out while she just leaves everything to a bunch of recent college graduate adrenaline junkies working a cool eco job at Victoria Falls.
But maybe that’s wrong. If she has no idea of what the risks are, and most of us would not, than maybe she is just misinformed and not a risk taker.
ObFUWordpress: F U WordPress!
Hey Gene, there are some more posts in the spam filter, and I suspect not just from me, if you could fish them out, that would be appreciated.
#OccupyThread
“I think its symptomatic that life on Earth has become to easy when people so willingly take unnecessary risks with their life & well being.”
Frankly,
I couldn’t agree more. Yet between the ages of 18 and 21 I was what was kown as a street drag racer in NYC. Near the latter age I began to get some intimation that I was on the wrong course when in trying to win in a 6 car race I cut off a close friend and he almost crashed his car. How do you say you’re sorry? A few months later doing 95 on a small street I realized that I was about to crash into some woods, hit the brakes, shifted to low and blew out all four tires as I came to a stop 5 feet from a large tree. My drag racing days were over.
With the clarity of hindsight I realize that my doing that was not because of the adrenalin rush, but because in my large family all the men were pretty reckless drivers and my doing it was associated with my emerging manhood. What makes me so aware of this is that for instance I’m afraid of Roller Coasters ad have never done any Disney stuff because I’m afraid of thrill rides. Thank God though that my nascent manhood was’t ended by that type of foolishness and more importantly that I harmed no one else.
Recently my 7 year old Grandson begged me to take him on a small Ferris wheel in a Mall. I of course did it, maintained a brave demeanor, but inside I was terrified.
I’ll try this again. A sprained ankle is an assumed risk. Strained muscles are an assumed risk. Knocking oneself senseless on the bridge on the way down or up is an assumed risk. A broken bungee ought to fall into the category of strict liability in tort.
A broken ankle is an assumed risk. Strained muscles are an assumed risk. Knocking oneself senseless on the side of the bridge on the way down or up is an assumed risk. A broken bungee ought to fall into the category of strict liability in tort.
pete,
All that spitting is shorting out WordPress … stop it
Gene, can you fix it to keep all that Russian and bad translation from Chinese spam out?