In clinicals they taught us never to accept money or gifts from our patients...you see, sometimes when people are very sick or dying they will attach themselves to a caregiver in the wrong way.

Outside of the usual stories, I am aware of a couple of shady marriages that started out as nurse/patient relationships...but occasionally I'd heard of nurses going after rich patients in more aggressive ways, and that's what this sounds like.

My point is that the defendants in these cases
are at a disadvantage if the plaintiffs already
know how much money they have.

There is the concept of premises liability - it's been well established under common law for hundreds of years that a property owner can't allow a condition to exist that injures someone who is invited onto the property. Here, the property owner knew the dangerous condition (the hole) existed. The questions to be settled are - is the repair made reasonable, and did the rescue people know of the existence of the hole so that they had an opportunity to avoid the injury.

If this were the first fire truck to fall into the hole, I'd agree that there's no liability, but the facts of this particular case may be different.

"If this were the first fire truck to fall into the hole..."

That's hilarious in itself. Makes one want to point out the five or six fire trucks a week getting stuck in my front yard.

She can't be that injured if she's oly going for $15 grand. What a piddling amount for all the fuss. If you're going to be stupid and vindictive anyway, go for at least $100K.

She's not going for only 15-grand. The insurance companies about 25-years ago forced the states to change the way damages are demanded. Under the old system, you asked for a certain amount and were limited to that amount. Now, depending on state, you claim you were damaged in an amount exceeding a certain amount, i.e. $15,000.

It was a very stupid move by the insurance companies. They thought it would limit their exposure, but it actually made the sky the limit and is the direct cause of absurdly high verdicts. The insurance companies brought it on themselves.

It is not a resonable expectation that a septic tank can support the weight of any vehicle, especially that of a fire truck, but it should be anticipated that a home may have a septic system in its yard.
...think everyone is on city utilities?

Too bad it will cost this family a lot of money to defend themselves.

Most homeowner's policies have a cap on damages
of this sort..and PI attorney's know what those amounts are..

The insurer has already figured into the premiums
gathered the amount of claims they will have of this type within one or two fire trucks..so it comes out of our pocket.

I think one could make a great deal of money selling
"WARNING FIRE TRUCKS & AMBULANCES- OLD SEPTIC TANKS IN YARD" signs..a sound investment for sure.

If I were the homeowner, it would simply be a matter of calling another PI attorney to sue the idiots at the county who aren't training their driver's adequately regarding where to park the big red truck.

c, exactly what you said.

There are thousands and thousands of homes in this county that have,or have had, self contained septic systems.

At my first house, when the ground was totally saturated during rainy season, that really dark green spot in the yard would actually sway when you jumped on it a little.

...Brave girl indeed..open yourself up to inbred redneck trampoline jokes like that.

I think you'd have to get a variance to place a septic tank in the front anymore..probably for all the reasons above...

As for me..I am a 51 year old dinosaur, because I remember drinking water out of a gourd dipper, from a bucket that we hauled up from a hand dug well.

Wonder who I could sue about that ?

I'm a 51 year old dinosaur too, but not a dumb one.
I walked around that spot when I went out to hang the clothes.

HAH!!!

I'm fifty-TWO!!! And never HAD a firetruck.

Take that.

Seems I remember a cheesecake photo of you hanging out clothes..you know, if they brought back
clotheslines again..think of the billions of dollars
that could be raked back into the government tills.

Tills rhymes with 'thrills' ..but I won't go there.

After a childhood of shredding my skin on towels baked stiff in the South Florida sun, I'm not welcoming the return of the clothesline any time soon.

Donnah Lee,
that was before softener.
lol, you're dinosauric too :)

Donnah, one more word on fossils.
Before AC, were you too young to remember Mom pumping "Black Flag" into the bedroom at night to kill mosquitos?

No, but I remember the times I woke up in the middle of the night from the heat and had to put rubbing alcohol on me to cool off.
It was fifth grade before we got AC. I have plenty of swelter-related memories.

I remember those Black Flag pumps..they were the bomb.

You just haven't lived until you spent eight or ten
summers in a 'NO AC' Florida..south of Ocala.

We mounted one of those big warehouse fans in an upstairs window in Leesburg..it cooled the whole house. Actually it just blew the wind around a lot, but it was way better than the crickets.

Stiff ..smifff.. I just like watching girls hang out
clothes..

Owen, you are the bomb-diggity
I think you like watching girls hanging clothes, washing the car, joggin', walking the dog, .......... ;)

Breathing the Black Flag...how did we survive?

My aunt had a wood frame house with a large fan like that in the ceiling. It pulled air out though. Standing under it felt like AC.

Ain't it the truth..

If Al Gore really wanted to make a difference in the world, he would consult with all those old crackers that are still alive.

They could teach him a thing or two about carbon
footprints..

God forbid ANYONE taking advise from the most hated
form of life on the planet..a Southerner.