And We need insurance because....

[funkymonkey66]

Long story short. Woman comes into my husbands store and wants the manufacture # for the tart burner she bought 4 years ago. Claimed it was defective and a fire hazard because it burnt her $500 coffee table. Woman admits she is an avid tart user and knows exactly what she's doing. Apparently she decided to change tarts and took the burning tealight out and placed it on the coffee table and left it sit there on her table while she was dumping out the old tart. This she claims caused a burn and it's the stores fault, the tart burners fault and now my husbands problem. LOL

So much for personal accountability.I just don't understand how someone could blame anyone but themselves for something like that.

Edited February 24, 2012 by funkymonkey66

[classiccandle]

Personal accountability? That's so 1980's.

Just kidding. I agree with you. Today, if someone actually stood up and took personal responsibility for something they caused or did I think it would be such a shock to society that it would be a headline news story.

[tam1116]

So what kind of insurance would cover something like this?????

[funkymonkey66]

Your basic candle making policy should cover it. However, just the simple fact that someone can claim something like this and get paid boggles the mind.

And yes lol it's very 80's maybe even 60's. People blame everyone but themselves. This comes close to the woman that left her house with a candle burning a few years back, cat knocked it over, burned her million dollar house down and she went after the candle manufacture. God forbid she blamed herself or her cat at the very least but it was the manufacture who was at fault in her mind.

I don't know, maybe I'm odd, if I burned a hole in my table, I'd get angry at myself and put a vase or book on the table to cover my stupid mistake. Not cause a fuss and file a claim with the store that sold me the tart burner.

[SliverOfWax]

Two words:

TORT REFORM

And once that's done, hang all the lawyers.

[Luci]

Indeed! This country is wayyyyyyyyy overdue for tort reform. When I taught hs street law and business, even my students found the frivolous lawsuits outrageous. ---and these were kids raised on free everything.

[blacktieaffair]

If I didn't make that tealight ( and Im pretty sure you didn't ), I'd have laughed in her stupid face. Even if you did make the tealight, it was "used in a way that is not in accoradence with the way it was designed to be used"

[ksranch]

That's just plain stupidity.

[Scented]

Long story short. Woman comes into my husbands store and wants the manufacture # for the tart burner she bought 4 years ago. Claimed it was defective and a fire hazard because it burnt her $500 coffee table. Woman admits she is an avid tart user and knows exactly what she's doing. Apparently she decided to change tarts and took the burning tealight out and placed it on the coffee table and left it sit there on her table while she was dumping out the old tart. This she claims caused a burn and it's the stores fault, the tart burners fault and now my husbands problem. LOL

So much for personal accountability.I just don't understand how someone could blame anyone but themselves for something like that.

Because people will never admit they're stupid or have stupid tendencies. It just isn't human to do that.

[funkymonkey66]

No, I didn't make the tealight.

I don't think it's tort reform. I think it's all people in general need to pull their heads out of their rear ends and stop making their stupidity someone else's fault. Just own the actions and move on. If you burned your table, you go buy another one.

Sadly, so many people in the world are conditioned they deserve compensation for every little thing. Even sadder is that good people like us pay the price.

[Jewls819]

Oh the many things I should have sued for..lol..I can be stupid alot but at least I take responsibility for my actions. Its sad to have to pay the premiums we do just because of stupid people.

Edited March 20, 2012 by Jewls819

[Kimb]

ok, I have to add to this since I was shaking my head at someone I show at a craft show this weekend. She explained to me how she makes candles on her stove using a double boiler method (not my way, but so far so good), she is making soy candles, and informs me that she pours her wax into containers when the temp drops to 180 degrees. She has no idea what temp the wax is in the double boiler or what temp she has the burner normally set to. She also tells me she thinks she is ready to start selling them. She can't tell me the brand of wax she has, can't understand why she gets ait pockets, and a bunch of other questions.

I take a deep, deep breath and tell her the first thing she needs is insurance and that some insurance companies will come out and inspect where you make your candles. I also told her to spend a lot of time testing her product and to be prepared to always be testing things.

Kim

[ksranch]

ok, I have to add to this since I was shaking my head at someone I show at a craft show this weekend. She explained to me how she makes candles on her stove using a double boiler method (not my way, but so far so good), she is making soy candles, and informs me that she pours her wax into containers when the temp drops to 180 degrees. She has no idea what temp the wax is in the double boiler or what temp she has the burner normally set to. She also tells me she thinks she is ready to start selling them. She can't tell me the brand of wax she has, can't understand why she gets ait pockets, and a bunch of other questions.

I take a deep, deep breath and tell her the first thing she needs is insurance and that some insurance companies will come out and inspect where you make your candles. I also told her to spend a lot of time testing her product and to be prepared to always be testing things.

Kim

That's the problem with a lot of beginners... they think it's just a matter of melting any old wax and throwing any old wick in it - it burns so it's a candle. Shheeezzzz!

[funkymonkey66]

God and a case a beer isn't going to help that situation lol.

Nobody wants to put in the time or research and testing. Instant gratification and a fast buck.

[Noodle]

I also think that some people smell money at another person's expense and have no morals or values whatsoever and will try to collect.

[Candybee]

Personally I would have thrown back at her exactly what she just said. She claims the tart burner burned her table yet she took out the burning tea light and placed it directly on the table? Say it right back at em just right and it gets them every time. If they did something stupid they need to be nudged a little so the light goes off in their head.

[funkymonkey66]

No he totally did. But she STILL insisted it was the tart burner that was defective. Some people are really just that stupid I guess. I think it was a con, who knows if she even has a coffee table.

[LynnS]

I was doing a craft show once.I was telling a mother and her daughter not to put candles on a burner with the warning label. The mother said OH how she knew.She did that once and had a small fire.Her daughter had no idea mother made that mistake so I realized I helped one family from having a fire.

Makes me wonder how many more people leave the warning labels on the jar and set it on a warmer.

LynnS

[Darbla]

People seem to be getting stupider and lazier. In the past stupid and lazy people weren't pandered to and protected, but now they're encouraged with free money and protected from their stupidity. "Survival of the fittest" morphed to "survival of the unfittest at the expense of the fittest". :rolleyes2

[jackie]

I saw this and it brought to mind how irritated I get when i hear of stupid lawsuits. but what upsets me more is that the people actually get paid. Remember when the lady sued Mcdonalds because she spilt hot coffee on herself--and won; and the person that climbs to the very top of a ladder, falls off and sues even though there's a warning label on the ladder--but of course the label isn't big enough to stop him from doing what he did so it's the manufacturer's fault. these idiots get paid and as long as that happens, this will continue. I blame myself when I do stupid stuff but there's too many folks out there these days that feel entitled to whatever they can get and nothing is ever their fault. Scary (and sad).

[Bottlecrafters]

Remember when the lady sued Mcdonalds because she spilt hot coffee on herself--(and sad).

I also feel there are far too many frivolous lawsuits, but many times we don't hear the whole story.

The McDonald's lawsuit is a prime example - google "Stella Liebeck"

She is the person that sued Mcdonalds. A few facts:

Stella was 79 years old at the time.

She was not driving (her son was)

McDonald's coffee at that time was heated to 180-190 degrees (most establishments heat to 130-140).

McDonald's knew this could cause severe burns. Even stated that at 180 it is not fit for consumption, and may cause mouth and throat burns.

Prior to this case there were approx. 700 known instances where McDonald's customers were burned by the coffee.

Stella spent 8 days in the hospital, and underwent skin grafting. She was disabled for 2 years.

Stella initially sought $20,000 from McDonald's but was rejected, thus went to court.

So in this case, it was not about a "quick money" seeking customer. It was about a company that knew it's product to be "defective" and chose to ignore it for the sake of better taste, and profit.

Edited April 9, 2012 by Bottlecrafters

[funkymonkey66]

I googled her and found this http://travis.pflanz.me/2011/hot-coffee-2011/

Disturbing images. However, I'm going out on a limb and even though it was horrible what happened to this poor lady she spilled it on herself. McDonalds didn't throw it on her. And if in fact these are the real pictures of this woman, I just don't see how a liquid heated to 180 would cause that kind of damage. Those images look more like a flesh eating disease than a burn from a cup of coffee.

[HorseScentS]

I googled her and found this http://travis.pflanz.me/2011/hot-coffee-2011/

Disturbing images. However, I'm going out on a limb and even though it was horrible what happened to this poor lady she spilled it on herself. McDonalds didn't throw it on her. And if in fact these are the real pictures of this woman, I just don't see how a liquid heated to 180 would cause that kind of damage. Those images look more like a flesh eating disease than a burn from a cup of coffee.

Those are burns for sure. And, why would anyone serve coffee at a temperature that is too high to safely drink? Nobody would drink 180 degree coffee on purpose, so why heat it up that high? It's a dangerous temperature. 108 degrees is the hottest temperature I can stand to get into a jacuzzi, so imagine how it would feel to get into a jacuzzi full of water that's 180 degrees.

This article explains that most people take showers at between 105 and 115 degrees, and public buildings, like hotels, usually limit the hot water temperature to 120 degrees to protect against scalding: http://www.burn-injury-law-center.com/blog/entry/preventing_scald_burns_via_tap_water

Edited April 10, 2012 by HorsescentS

[Allicia]

Although I do feel bad for the woman I do not agree with the lawsuit and I am not a big business kind of person to say the least. The fact is even if the coffee was hot, if it was 105 degrees like bathwater I am positive it would have gone right back in the window. I am not saying it is not unfortunate I am just saying if she paid .49 for a cup of coffee and the jury awarded her 2.86 million (here is the important part) Which is equivalent to 2 days coffee sales, now comes the math. 2,860,000 divided by .49 = 5,836,734.69 so that is almost six million now divide that by 2 since it was 2 days sales. Now the magic numbers between 2.5 million and 3 million other people drank McDonald's coffee on that particular day without a problem. Correct me if I am wrong but this could seriously be a case of operator error. Now if you were to argue the person handing the coffee out of the window spilled the coffee on her I would agree to the lawsuit.

[HorseScentS]

Although I do feel bad for the woman I do not agree with the lawsuit and I am not a big business kind of person to say the least. The fact is even if the coffee was hot, if it was 105 degrees like bathwater I am positive it would have gone right back in the window. I am not saying it is not unfortunate I am just saying if she paid .49 for a cup of coffee and the jury awarded her 2.86 million (here is the important part) Which is equivalent to 2 days coffee sales, now comes the math. 2,860,000 divided by .49 = 5,836,734.69 so that is almost six million now divide that by 2 since it was 2 days sales. Now the magic numbers between 2.5 million and 3 million other people drank McDonald's coffee on that particular day without a problem. Correct me if I am wrong but this could seriously be a case of operator error. Now if you were to argue the person handing the coffee out of the window spilled the coffee on her I would agree to the lawsuit.

McDonalds is handing coffee to people in cars, including old people with shaky hands, disabled people, kids, pets, traffic accidents could occur, so there's a higher risk of spilling -- and they are responsible to serve that coffee at a safer temp like the other restaurants do, like 130 or 140 degrees NOT 180 degrees. That woman suffered for a couple of years, so the award took that into consideration. I think the jury got it right.

Burn patients suffer extremely painful debriding in the hospital sometimes daily!!! One debriding session alone should be worth a million dollars, IMO, and skin grafts are no fun, especially for an old lady who is at higher risk of complications and anesthetic death. She may have had to stay in a nursing home for awhile, so she lost her freedom and independence too.

Edited April 12, 2012 by HorsescentS