Legally Stunned – When the Legal System doesn’t Make Sense

Question

Do you know why there is an allergen warning on Jars of peanuts that say, "WARNING: May contain traces of nuts."

Answer: It's there to prevent a lawsuit.

Ridiculous Law Suits

Sometimes the Law doesn’t seem to make sense to me. Example, how can a thief sue a Homeowner for getting bitten by the dog, while he was trying to break into his home and the thief wins the case?

This happened in America and the Judge told him, he should've posted a sign that said, "beware of dog". The Homeowner had to pay for the burglar's medical bills.

I’m sure we all remember that case in the UK, sometime ago where a Homeowner shot a thief and he (the homeowner) ended up going to prison for it. Then there’s the tobacco issue where some smokers are suing tobacco companies and winning cases for having cancer and other health problems.

Only recently -The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts has ruled that cigarette smokers who have suffered no apparent injuries to their health may bring a lawsuit to force tobacco makers to pay for medical monitoring to scan for cancer that may develop in the future.

'Healthy' Smokers Win Landmark Tobacco Ruling – Oct 09

My Hotdog Story

O.K now don’t laugh. This is just “minor”. I was with my friends in a Canteen somewhere and bought a Hotdog. As I lifted it to eat, the hotdog fell out and dropped on the floor. I calmly walked up to the canteen and told them my hot dog fell on the floor and politely asked for another one. Did they give it to me? Yes, with a smile and no extra charge.

Walking back to my seat, I thought to myself, it was nice of them to give me another one because it clearly was my fault. It wasn’t like there was an earthquake and the hotdog missed my mouth. My point – I’m used to living in a society where you can make ridiculous claims.

Security Men

In the UK, Security men are not allowed to touch or hold shoplifters. They may just walk up to them and say “we need to check your bags please” or they could maybe block their way and ask them to politely step aside or inside. If they are outside, they are asked politely to return the goods back to the shop. I was discussing this with some friends and said to them - very soon the Security Officer will say to the thief “Please sit down, the Police are on their way. Would you like a cup of coffee while you are waiting?”

Family Issues

This one upsets me the most. A parent smacks their child lightly. The child calls the police and reports it. Before you know it, the police, the social services are all involved and the kid ends up in Foster care. I hear these stories and it’s happened to someone I know.

Apparently the social services can put words in a kid’s mouth. E.g. During Interrogation "so your mum slapped you hard?" and the kid’s thinking and nearly agrees “a little bit hard” they reply. Social worker says “and you cried?". Even if the kid didn’t cry, she’d nod her head and most of these kids get moved from one foster home to another which gives them a bad foundation in life.

The person who I know, that it happened to – luckily for them, the child wasn’t getting on with the Foster parents and requested to return to her parents. The parents were nearly put on a Child abusers list, which would have affected their medical careers – all because it’s acceptable to call the police on one’s parents. I hear some kids divorce their parents, but I won't go there in this Hub.

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Finally, I’ll leave you with a Joke, I read on a Coffee mug” a few days ago.

Police Officer pulls over Driver and says to him: “Sir, could you blow into this bag please.”

Driver: Puzzled, because he hadn’t done anything wrong, asks “why Officer”?

Police Officer: “My Chips are hot!”.

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http://hubpages.com/hub/WRONGFUL-COVICTIONS

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