Lawyer / Legal adive needed

[Nismo280zEd]

Ok, so it seems all the fluke things happen to my wife and I and today lived up to that.

 

Jenna got home and it's been storming here for hours almost since 3:30 or 4pm she went up stairs to plug in her laptop. The cord was not plugged into the lap top and she was plugging in the 3 prong part of the cord into the wall outlet. While doing so caused an arc from the outlet to the plug and her left arm. There are scorch marks on the outlet, on the 3 prong part of the plug and on the end that would go into the laptop (as if the current flowed through it and exited into the carpet or something. However no visible burn marks on her hand or the carpet or anywhere else.

 

So I called the landlord immediatly as we lease the townhouse here. He came over and basically tried to blame it on the laptop cord. Told me his buddy was going to fix the outlet saturday and that he was sorry the cord was fried. Well I was a little upset as he had no concern for my wife or the damage to our property cause by improper grounding in the townhouse. I asked him who was going to pay for the cord and he starting talking BS to get out of it. Told me he would contact me saturday to replace the outlet at which point I said I'm taking my wife to the doctor tomorrow to make sure nothing is wrong (implying serious injuries occured from his faulty outlet) Then they left. About 25min later he calls me back told me he is contacting the manufacturer of the townhouse and they will be calling me to arrange an appointment (I like this idea then I can get document proof of damages and hopefully a liscensed electrician) then informed me he contacted the owner of the property and if I wanted to call 911 he would come back to the property and go to the hospital with us. (Real smartass we don't like this guy) So I said I work at the hospital I'll take her in the morning (going into the ER right now they wouldn't look at her till the morning anyway as it would be considered non "life threatening" and I don't want to spend my evening in the place i work anyway)

 

So.... my question is. What are the proper steps to form a lawsuit against the owner for negligence on the proper under tort law? Should I seek a lawyer immediatley or can this be handled in small claims? I have photos of everything we are writting a written letter tomorrow so we have a "paper trail" and of course I have the scorched laptop cord.

 

Do I call my insurance company for the property and seek legal action through them or? Not quite sure who I shold contact here.

 

Thanks for any help and or comments.

-Ed

 

EDIT

I forgot to mentino the entire left side of her body hurts now and her left arm is numb and hurts to move.

[Guest Demon Z]

are you planning on suing?

[buZy]

The word frivolous comes to mind.

[Here comes trouble]

What are your damages ? What does a lap top cord cost? Can you prove that your wife has permanent injuries. Has the outlet been fixed ? The repairman can say your wife improperly plugged the cord in and damaged the electrical outlet?

[MJLamberson]

you want to go to court over a fried cord... sure they should fix the problem, buy you a new cord... but suing seems a little excessive to me

[TrumpetRhapsody]

I forgot to mentino the entire left side of her body hurts now and her left arm is numb and hurts to move.

My position is that if she is injured mentally or physically, and or it will take money to rehabiliate her, that is when you sue. If you sue just b/c you think you can get money out of them or b/c you think they're jerks for not being sensitive enough, you're just fueling the "I'm going to sue McDonalds for having hot coffee" society mentality, which is why we have some seriously crappy restrictions, corporate liability paranoia, and expensive car insurance.

 

I hope your wife is ok, good luck!

[Mr.INSANE]

I'm sure dropping the word the l word (Lawsuit) would smarten him up a bit and make him pay for the cord.

 

Even if he wins in a court case he would still end up losing money because of the legal fee's

[woldson]

The outlet definintly needs to be checked, however, this outlet may have performed to spec. If gound was not avalible it might of killed her.

An outlet will not just short in a way to get you. The cord or the computer may be what caused a surge to that outlet. With a storm going on a ton of static electricity may be the culprit. Her charge after going up stairs and being on carpet may have found the ground or nutral on end of that cord and old sammey electron wanted out!

Did this pop the breaker? I do believe this will be a shear accident of a bunch of circumstances comeing to gether at once.

There is really no way she would of been a better ground than the neutral or ground.

Ground is only there as a fail safe to a broken neutral. Both neutral and ground essentally do the same thing, take "flow" back to the substation.

With one hand you can grab hot without a shock, unless you provide a great ground, Ie standing on metal with wet feet and then putting the hot lead in your mouth. The metal floor needs also needs to be sitting on good old mother earth, and it would help it you wet the earth under the plate.

Then you go poof!

The easyier way to shock yourself to to grab hot and than neutal or ground with your other hand than poof as you complete the circuit!

 

This is why I believe it was static eletricity from your wife to ground or nutral. If their was a lighting strike, all bets are off and some of the voltage found it way to your wife, however not much otherwise..... This has nothing to do with how well your wireing is.

The tingle, or pain 99% of the time will go away in time. You should at least get her checked out.

This is my understanding based on my knowlage, but Iam not an eletrician nor a power guy. Just a cableguy.

Was there a ethernet cable also connected to the laptop at this time? Potential difference between your network or the cable/phone company will typicall not be the same.........hence you can create a circuit between the two grounds to "flow power".

[JSM]

I hope your wife turns out to be fine. I would not sue unless permanent damages were present.

 

On a side note the McDonalds case with the hot coffee was legit. She was an older women if I recall going through the drive through. The coffee was spilled on her crotch burning both her legs and her genital area. She required skin graphs from her legs.

 

She approached McDonalds not to sue but to seek reimbursement for medical costs. They blew her off and she HAD to seek a lawsuit.

 

A lawyer buddy told me this.

[Evan Purple240zt]

I hope your wife turns out to be fine. I would not sue unless permanent damages were present.

 

On a side note the McDonalds case with the hot coffee was legit. She was an older women if I recall going through the drive through. The coffee was spilled on her crotch burning both her legs and her genital area. She required skin graphs from her legs.

 

She approached McDonalds not to sue but to seek reimbursement for medical costs. They blew her off and she HAD to seek a lawsuit.

 

A lawyer buddy told me this.

 

And that particular McDonalds had been warned about the coffee being above correct temperatures.

[(goldfish)]

Hope your wife is OK. How old is the townhouse? Check the elec. codes regarding GFI's in the circuits. It's petty to sue for the A/C adapter, but make sure the medical stuff is good and covered.

 

 

 

Regarding the McD's. I still think it's poo-poo. I dumped shortening ( far hotter than water can get) on my foot and barely got a blister because I took care of it right away. Both major injuries I have seen from hot water are because they weren't taken care off immediately.

[Mikelly]

I'm not a lawyer and don't play one on TV.

 

I'd bet a considerable amount of money that you will not win a lawsuit, based on the circumstances as you described them in your post.

 

Can you sue? Sure.

 

Can you win? Likely not.

 

How much would it cost to pursue? LOTS.

 

Mike

[rdsk8ter]

You could always get your own electrical oppinion. Me being a master electrician would say it was probably a bad streak of luck the wiring if it had a problem you would have known. I would be willing to bet it had to do with the laptop cord. Cords are often very slightly dammaged from wear and tear if it shorted that would explain the arc. I would NOT threaten a lawsuit because if there is any doubt that the cord could have damaged the outlet and not the other way around then he can proceed legal actions against you ....... for slander or something like that then you could be liable for not only the repairs but for his time remember when suing a landlord you have to have absolute proof because they have the upperhand no matter what. As a business owner (landlord is concidered) you can bill for your time resulting in you trying to sue them and then loosing. Cut your losses I get Tagged all the time if your wife is not hurt by now she will be fine. Whats the cord going to cost 100 bucks thats still small claims youll go there spent hours of your time to get told to bad. I hate to say the above but I think deep down you know Im right. What you can do is have a private home inspection done..... If anything comes up ie mold mildew etc etc and they can tell you how long its been there you can get out of your contract and possibly get reimbersed for the time when you had to live with that. Just my .02 (sorry ive been up for 18 hours time for bed but spelling shut off about 2 hours ago)

[zgeezer]

And that particular McDonalds had been warned about the coffee being above correct temperatures.

 

Yep, those are pretty much the facts. I can tell you with some certainty that after that lawsuit, McDonalds' coffee is not served at 210 degrees any more.

 

Now, here's my flow chart to determine if he should sue.

 

First, go ahead and consider suing, it is, of course, the American thing to do.

 

Second. Did his wife suffer a serious (permanent) or exceptionally painful injury. If she has numbness in that arm after three days, she might have.

 

Third. Immediately, seek medical care and a diagnosis. If she has an injury that a competent physician believes was caused by the shock, then move to the next step, which would be:

 

Fourth. Determine what actually caused the incident and did his wife do anything to add to her injuries. Maybe the box wiring was faulty in someway, but did his wife just step out of the shower/bath wet and barefoot standing on a damp carpet when she attempted to plug in the cord. If so, then deduct some comparative amount for her negligence..... something between 10% and 90%.

 

Fifth. Get on the internet and look for jury awards in your county, where this matter is likely to be tried. He will probably see that something like 60% of the cases that go to trial are defensed. Insurance defense counsel know what they are doing and what they are doing is not giving out money for free.

 

Sixth. Take the cord to an expert (you won't believe how many experts in some really arcane fields there are out there) to determine if it was defective in design.

 

Seventh. If the cord was defective, then you are into an entirely different law suit. But don't despair, a few have prevailed on a theory of faulty design.

 

Think Pinto.

 

Ford Pinto gas tanks would often catch fire when rear ended. The gas tank filler design was such that it would usually separate from the tank upon impact. Ford's problem is that it knew of this propensity and actually worked up actuarial reports on the cost/benefit of redesigning this $3.00 piece. Their actuaries actually calculated how many people would likely be incinerated and what Ford would lose in the insuring law suits as against the cost of redesign. They opted to keep the old design. They should have also burned the actuary reports too.

 

So much for the rant. The wife's health should be the first concern. If she has permanent problem, then see a good PI attorney AFTER the wife's seen a good physician.

 

g