This post is in response to a comment (#6) left in my post "The Bonuras turn tragedy into greed" from last week. Since responding to the comment would have brought a really long response I chose to write a new post.
I think your words are both ignorant and insensitive, and to label the actions of the Bonura family “greedy” is plain asinine. The whole event is a tradegy, and there is no doubt that a lawsuit will not get the family what they really want, but that does not make them greedy.
I've been there. My dad died in a motorcycle accident. I've dealt with tragedy and the legal system. I know what it's like, and I feel for them. Disagreeing with their actions does not change that one bit.
First of all, sueing a company which fails to perform an action is contractually obligated is standard practice, that is what gives us the ability to take such legal action. Not only did the company and the driver fail to meet their legal obligations, the family actually was harmed, and in the greatest way possible. It would be absolutely ridiculous and unheard of for the family to not take legal action! Yes, accidents do happen. However, if the bus and driver were as safe as they were guranteed to be, the family would be in a very different place today.
No. The bus company met their legal obligations when it came to the bus. It met all of the federal regulations on the book. They aren't obligated to provide safety glass or seat belts. Don't like it? Take it up with the NHTSA.
Thanks to an accident that I was involved in a few months after I got my motorcycle license I have bad knees. What happened was that I locked up the front brake and came off. No other vehicles were involved and the wreck was 100% my fault. Should I sue the bike's manufacturer because they didn't provide adequate knee protection, something that's not required by federal regulations? No, suing them would be silly. I knew what the potential risk was, took it, and got burned.
Anytime you get into a vehicle you accept a certain amount of risk. If you don't want to accept that risk, don't get in.
As far as the driver, she was forced to make a split-second decision and did what she thought was necessary to keep the kids on that bus safe when she swerved to get out of the way of the debris in the road. What happened is tragic, but knowing what I do about the accident I can't say with any certainty that the poor woman could have avoided it. Because of that, I can't blame her.
The way I see it, you can't really blame anybody.
Second of all, your reason to single out the Bonura family is beyond me. Every family of the students on the bus has legal representation against the driver and/or company, as well as the school district.
They got "singled out" because they filed the suit. Getting an attorney is the smart thing to do when you or a family member or involved in an accident to walk you through the legal process. It's stupid not to. I don't have a problem with that.
Lastly and mostly, if you think anybody is "making money" off of this accident, you are sadly mistaken. No matter what size of monetary compensation the families recieve through the suit (which I gurantee will be no fortune), they will not be making any kind of profit. Not even close.
I established in my previous post that suing is not the way to get the regulations changed, which they claim is the reason for the suit being filed. So why are they doing it? If you know then please enlighten me. I am "ignorant" after all, what do I know?
(Cross-posted to Through our eyes)
No comments:
Post a Comment