Some lawsuits make you wonder

I don't won't to appear insensitive, but when I read that a Missouri Court of Appeals had reversed a lower court's decision in a lawsuit about allegedly defective cruise controls in some GM vehicles (and about injuries one person suffered in an accident allegedly caused by this bad cruise control), I was a little skeptical. Not to say that I know for sure that the cruise control was not defective, it may well have been. But normally cruise controls don't work below a certain speed, and they also normally do not give you that fast of acceleration, especially at first. So when I read the story about this case, about how the plantiff said the cruise control caused the car to rapidly travel about 120 feet and hit a tree along the way, severly injuring the woman driving the car, I was a little skeptical. The first thought that went through my mind was that the unfortunate driver had hit the gas instead of the brake pedal, causing the car to accelerate rapidly. Most of these cases about unintended acceleration end up resulting from the driver hitting the gas instead of, or sometimes even along with, the brake. Normally if you have the brake on all the way, it is either difficult or even impossible (depends on the vehicle) for the car to accelerate that fast if your foot has the brake petal fully depressed.

It is sad, without a doubt, but just from what I have seen (and I acknowledge that I certainly do not have all of the facts here, just a general picture of the situation) and heard about this case (and others similar to it), driver error is almost always to blame. Not trying to give anyone a bad name, but it bugs me that a company almost had to pay out huge money for something that may have been the driver's fault.

You can read about the story here, from the Kansas City Star:
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/13649290.htm

Dumbass of the week

You have to love it when not only does someone not fully understand an issue, but they also just act like a complete dumbass trying to make their case. As a result of the US Supreme Court's decision about eminent domain (from the case in Connecticut), Logan Darrow Clements (I will just call him dumbass for the time being) has organized a petition drive to put on the ballot in an upcoming election a "project" that would use eminent domain to seize Supreme Court Justice David Souter's home and land to build this hotel or whatever stupid assed thing this moron is allegedly trying to build. It only took 25 signatures to get the measure on the ballot, and in the unlikely event that genius wins, a legal challenge would pretty much be a certainty.

What I don't get (besides the charade this guy is putting on that just makes him look stupid), is why people still have trouble grasping the court's decision on this matter (from the case of Kelo vs. New London). The court didn't come out and say this was OK, they just upheld the state's right to use eminent domain based on the laws on the books. They also basically said that it was a state, not a federal matter, as they should have decided. States, counties and cities can still pass their own ordiances or laws if they want to restrict how eminent domain is used. This sounds like a good topic for my issues blog when I find the time.

Here is the story from AP via Yahoo if you want to read it:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060121/ap_on_re_us/hotel_souter;_ylt=Ao.DJGZjPO1TQp2fo6miW..s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY-

Good news if you use gift cards

A state judge in Albany, New York recently ruled that according to state law, any proceeds that retailers get from unused gift cards must be turned over to the state as abandoned property after a period of five years from the purchase of the card. According to the article at the link below from BizJournals (the Albany edition), many of those retailers that still have expiration dates on their gift cards may eliminate expiration dates since they will no longer pocket the money from the unused cards. This only applies to New York, but the ramifications will be felt outside of the state in the retail world. I have never been a big fan of expiration dates, and especially do not like those cards that basically charge you a fee for each month that the card is active but not used.

Here is the story:
http://www.bizjournals.com/industries/retailing_restaurants/retailing/2006/01/23/Albany_story7.html?f=et182&hbx=e_vert

Oprah does a flip flop

Okay, first Oprah defends beleaguered author Jim Frey, whose book "A Million Little Pieces" was a book club pick by Oprah. She publicly defended him on Larry King Live. But now she has changed her mind, and grilled him on her show recently. Sounds to me like Oprah was pissed that she was made to look bad so she had to do a quick public about face to save face.

All seems pretty damn comical to me. I have never been a big Oprah fan anyway, this just makes me thing "Hypocrite" even more.

You can read about it here (although unless you have been in a coma you almost certainly have heard at least part of this story:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/books_disputed_memoir;_ylt=AoQkRL4WZwvOcz.dQrAgFXlxFb8C;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--

Rough times for the Big 3

What a rough few months for the big 3 auto companies. GM announced a big restructuring, big job cuts and plant closings recently, and on monday ford announced they were taking similiar actions to improve their financial picture. I also have a link below to a story from MSNBC.com on whether or not the Big 3 may soon kill off some of their more redundant brands to save money and reduce duplication. I have said for years that GM could get rid of Oldsmobile (which they did) and probably Buick or Pontiac. They might have more luck if they try to position Pontiac as a more hip car and ditch Buick, which overlaps too much with Cadillac.

They also have to figure out how to compete with the Japanese companies better. Toyota may soon overtake GM as the #1 automaker in the world, a title GM probably thought they would have forever.

Here is the link to the story:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10617131/