Private School-girl Suing Over a Sporting Accident... Really???

[Balimaar]

Stories likes this makes me wonder about the intelligence of the average human.

A 13-year-old from an exclusive Queensland private school is being sued by a classmate who allegedly suffered a bruised eye in a tennis mishap.

Gold Coast cardiologist Guy Wright-Smith said he was "gobsmacked" after receiving the damages claim against his 13-year-old daughter Julia on Friday, the Courier Mail reports.

The claim, which also names Somerset College and its Jay Deacon's Tennis School as defendants, alleges Julia hit her classmate Finley Enright-Burns in the eye with a tennis ball during a lesson at Mudgeeraba last October. Finley is alleged to have required medical treatment.

"I couldn't believe it when I opened this legal letter addressed to my 13-year-old daughter,'' Dr Wright-Smith told the Courier-Mail yesterday.

"It's bizarre ... beyond belief."

Dr Wright-Smith said the two girls were friends.

The claim alleges the school breached its duty of care, failed to provide adequate supervision or protective eyewear and allowed the students to stand too close together, and that Julia to hit two balls at once.

Lawyer Bill Potts, who is not involved in the case, told the Courier Mail cases such as this threatened school sport by pushing up insurance costs.

"While the girl's injuries are regrettable, there is also a sense with claims like this that we've gone too far and are becoming a litigious-crazy society like the US,'' he said.

"We can't wrap our kids in cotton wool. Are they going to start stopping kids from climbing trees and kicking balls?

"These great Australian pastimes are under threat if claims like this are successful.''

From: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8455655/private-school-girl-suing-classmate-over-tennis-injury

 

[wintercoat]

I read about this a few hours ago and I was just...what. The. Fuck.

 

[WolfThomas]

You know some times crazy law suits are actually understandable when you actually look at the case, like they can't get medical insurance to pay with a suit or something like that.

This doesn't sound like one of those.

 

[ShadowsofHope]

..Wow.

Just.. wow.

So are they planning to sue the tennis ball as well for actually inflicting the damage, or just the friend for hitting it back..?

 

[Rawne1980]

Oh I did giggle.

If that was the UK it would be laughed out of court .... and laughed down the street .... and laughed at some more for being silly.

 

[Vault101]

trust me Australian Private school girls all nutters...you ever meet one run away really fast

I hear they all join allumini cults

I should know I-

oh wait...never mind, igore that

 

[requisitename]

The crap people (try to) sue over these days is incredible. I hope it's thrown out AND the poor, injured girl's parents get to pay a metric shit-ton of associated legal fees. Stupidity should be expensive if it can't be painful.

 

[Wintermoot]

it,s America what did you expect? they sue people over hot coffee (the drink not the infamous mod)
PS
I got it,s in Australia I assumed it was America because they pretty much sue everything there

 

[The Night Angel]

it,s America what did you expect? they sue people over hot coffee (the drink not the infamous mod)

It says in the article that it isn't America, but Australia.....

OT: This is completely ridiculous, if you don't want your children to ever get hurt, take them out of P.E., accidents happen, deal with it. I took a baseball bat to the face in PE once, and didn't cry about it.

 

[Supertegwyn]

it,s America what did you expect? they sue people over hot coffee (the drink not the infamous mod)

Queensland is a state of Australia.

I know Night Angel has already clarified, but I really wanted to say that.

OT: It's a private school, what do you expect?

 

[Dandark]

it,s America what did you expect? they sue people over hot coffee (the drink not the infamous mod)

Actully it's in Australia. I also assumed America untill someone said "This is stupid, if we keep this up then we will become as retarded as the US". Or at least that's how I read it.

 

[YingDerpington]

Should I be embarassed that I live in the same area as this school... And happen to be friends with some of the students there? Gotta love how retarded some people can get. And if this girl and her parents are suing because she agreed to play tennis and got hit in the eye, what does that say about me, who has had a solid hockey ball slammed into his face, ankle and groin more times than I can readily count? I see the money already.

 

[bobmus]

Ridiculous - there is no case for damages here at all unless she is a career model. If this even gets close to being successful in court it's a huge facepalm for the world.

 

[Dectomax]

Oh I did giggle.

If that was the UK it would be laughed out of court .... and laughed down the street .... and laughed at some more for being silly.

Funny thing that, I recall something similar happening when they said the paras were useful... :3


OT:This is...I'm not sure. I do wonder how these people manage to breath though? Next thing you know we'll be getting sued for sneezing and putting the world at risk of a dreadful case of the sniffles...

 

[smithy_2045]

Completely and utterly ridiculous. Nothing more needs to be said.

 

[LooK iTz Jinjo]

Sigh... What ever happened to the stereotype that Australians were tough and nothing phased us...? Didn't offer protective eyewear? Are you fucking kidding me? Who the fuck wears "protective eyewear" when playing tennis? This is a joke. Fuck people.

 

[Craorach]

Sooner or later we'll be sendings kids to school wrapped head to toe in bubble wrap with straws to breath through. Hell, we'll all be working the same way as adults. Can't take any risks, can't be unsafe!

 

[CrazyGirl17]

(Facepalm) Of for the love of...! Are we really this sue-happy as a people?!?!

 

[Frankster]

Whilst in school I was:

-Hit with a baseball bat so hard it permanently affected my eye sight
-Broke my ankle once
-Chipped a tooth and had a nasty cut in my tongue from an elbow blow in rugby
-Broke an arm

And that's just off the top of my head, i'm sure I got better injuries that I repressed.

Can I sue anyone? I know that kid with the baseball owes me $ big time.

 

[RobDaBank]

It's news like this that inspires me to sue my boxing instructor for hitting me during a sparring session...