guy bandits race, gets injured (Page 2)

this^^^^  .  PI lawyers will not agree with me, but this is the problem when anyone can sure anyone without taking a risk....if people had to front some money before they sued and risk something, i believe you would see a lot of these frivolous lawsuits go away, to leave room for the legitimate ones. 

He took his friend's race number that didn't race.  It sure looks like he's "diving" into that pit and if that were the case, legit registration or not, I do not feel sorry for him.  You chose to participate, you accept the risks.  Now if the pit had punji sticks in it and they didn't warn people, maybe you'd have a case.

It is absolutely relevant, perhaps the most relevant issue, particularly to the issue of negligence and whether the race company owed him a duty of care and what level that is involved. Depending on Virginia law, the fact that he was banditing the race and, therefore, not on the property with permission or by invitation, may likely mean the race company owed him no duty to keep him safe or warn of dangerous conditions.

It was probably the same force that made him compete in a race he wasn't registered for, and the same force may be in play in the lawsuit - maybe he doesn't have a choice but to sue.

I feel for him for his injuries, but am totally baffled as to how with all of the competitors out there, he was the one to find the obstacle to be truly dangerous, ill-constructed, etc.

One of the sad things about society is the sense of entitlement that has taken over.  Nothing is "my fault" any more, it's always "someone else's fault".   People spill hot coffee in their laps and sue restaurants for millions.  A group of drunk teenagers sneak into a random strangers pool late at night while the family isn't home and one of them accidentally drowns, and the homeowner gets sued.  A man steals a car and gets chased by the police.  He crashes the car into a telephone pole and sustains injuries.  He sues the police for forcing him to speed up and drive wrecklessly, he sues the telephone company for putting the pole "too close to the road", and he sues the owner of the car for leaving it unlocked thus "inviting" him to steal it.  This stuff actually happens. 

This is the kind of mentality we have to deal with now.  In the case of the endurance races, we all sign a waiver that says we assume the known risk of being in the race.  Now granted if there was some gross negligence on the part of the race director in a race you officially signed up for, and you got injured, that's another story.  If I signed up for a race and one of the life guards in a row boat intentionally whacked me in the head with an oar as I swam by, I think I might have valid reasons to seek justice.  But in the case of a guy who bandited a race and INTENTIONALLY IGNORED signing a waiver that WOULD HAVE MADE HIM AWARE OF THE ASSUMED RISKS HE WAS ABOUT TO EMBARK ON AND GIVEN HIM THE OPTION NOT TO PARTICIPATE, then he has no right to sue.  Plain and simple.  Period.   

Can someone explain to me why a man who was "fit" and had completed the Marine Corps Marathon, was an active member of his running club and paced a 9:49 mile was "tired, physically exhausted, and weak" after only 3.1 miles?  

This sounds like a load of malarky to me, and he was being unethical.  Apparently 1500 other runners made it through the pit just fine.  He made a mistake, miscalculated, and now wants someone else to pay for it, AFTER he was there illegally in the first place.  

Wow, one of the comments waaaay down on the linked page contains another link to the court paperwork (or whatever it is called, my apologies for not knowing).  After reading it, it sounds like the guy may have a bit more of a case than we are originally made to believe.  I'm not saying he is right or wrong; I'm just saying extra background knowledge has moved my opinion a skosh.  I got to about page 14 then got tired of the legalese.

http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/05/18/mudrun.pdf

Maybe not necessarily out for blood for the dude, but the race organizers shouldn't be held liable for someone who didn't register for their race/put in the appropriate paperwork/etc.  It would be the equivalent to someone biking on your street, crashing into your driveway, and then sueing you because it was your driveway that they crashed into.

Or, maybe a bit more extreme, you're taking your daughter and her friends for a walk - and - unbeknownst to you - another kid is following you.  This kid falls and breaks her arm and her parents sue you for not taking care of their child.

Ridiculous, right?  It is.  The proper precautions/insurance measures cannot be taken for someone who doesn't register and just shows up.

Actually, I just read it the legal documents.  While I still think it's a load of crap - if the organizers told him he didn't need to register in order to race - then I think they (legally) take on liability.  With that said, I don't know of a single race organizer in the world that would allow someone to come and race and not have them sign a waiver of liability form.  Would literally be the first thing out of any race director's mouth.

This is what the bandit racer is saying.  If you read the RD's comments about it, he states that no such conversation ever occurred between them.  

In other documents, the bandit racer states he asked the RD about changing the name on the race form and signing the waiver and the RD said don't worry about it.  RD is claiming NONE of these conversations happened.  

I was just going to mention the same thing.

Seems like the guy was TRYING not to bandit the race, and ask them if he has to sign a wavier or some type of transfer for his friend's number to him.  He was "told" no, just race with that number. 

Now - Personally, if you're an endurance athlete, and have participated in races, and you hear from a volunteer that "no you don't need to sign anything or transfer the number or whatever", I would DEMAND to see the RD because I know that's not good to not sign any type of wavier.  So, who's REALLY at fault?!

Let's just say for hypothetical sake - Suppose if he was NOT a bandit, and participated legally just fine, and signed the wavier.   Can he still sue?  Isn't that what the wavier is for to protect the race from being sued?  

I wonder if there's plenty of witnesses out there that really said "DIVE DIVE DIVE" in the muddy pool. C'mon, would you really dive in a muddy pool that is 3 feet or so deep? 

I feel bad for the guy that got injured, but I think it was just an unfortunate accident.  People are sue happy, and that drives me nuts.

Keep in mind, the legal document is his account of what happened.  

Yeah.  I tend to believe that no RD would ever "just ok" someone to participate without doing any of that.  And they'll have EVERYONE ELSE that they made sign a waiver as evidence.  I dunno...seems like a wild claim imo.

And the point about the guy depriving the race directors of a chance to warn him of the risks is 100% spot on.

Agreed.  Such a shame that we have people that take advantage...  They want big things, real fast, w/o doing the work to earn it.  Grrrr!

You guys probably better watch what you say about this guy, He may sue us !! 

Yeah, I don't buy this guy's story for a second. 

Read the court document...or some of it at least.

I agree that this is just the plaintifs account of what happened, and the RD could simply deny everything.

I think what will need to happen is if another participant can vouch for the plaintiff.  Saying that he or she also wanted to transfer someone elses registration, but was told they didn't need to.  Maybe the name of the person who provided that decision may also be required.  I don't think saying "some dude at the tent told me it was ok" will hold up in court.

The plaintif may also need other racers to confirm that these "spotters" were indeed encouraging participants to "dive" into the mud pit. 

Lastly...if this guy wins, who pays?  The guy wasn't a registered participant, so I assume the insurance bought for the race won't cover it.  Maybe if the RD has general insurance for his company?  I mean...it's not like you're suing Apple or Microsoft...the guy is just a RD.  How much money does he have?

I think many people feel this way until faced with the reality that their family will face financial ruin if they don't receive money from somewhere.  Personally, I can think of plenty of possibilities that would prompt me to sue if injured during a race.  Here's one: on day one of a mud run, many people are injured on a certain obstacle because of a danger that is not apparent to racers (say a wet, downward sloping hold on the top of a wall).  RD knows about the injuries and the cause and does nothing.  Day two, I race and I'm seriously injured as a result of the hold.  I would have no problem holding the RD, and hopefully their insurance company, accountable for the failure to address a known danger.  Maybe I'll put it another way, let's say it was a kids race and the injured racer was your (royal) son or daughter.  

That's far less than spikes on the bottom of a mud pit.

I'm racing next weekend and the bike course has a huge hill where you can pick up major speed on the downside.  So what if it rained a little right before I hit that hill, it was slippery and I bike crashed, got majorly injured.  Would I sue because after all, the event encouraged me to speed down this hill?  And it's slippery so that's not safe for anyone.  So I should sue the race, right?

Makes no sense.