I can't imagine an American acting similarly

[Doug C]

http://www.spectator.sk/articles/view/37553/10/slovak_electrician_on_dublin_flight_will_not_sue_the_police.html

[Dude]

It wasn't a real explosive:

 

http://www.spectator.sk/articles/view/37552/10/slovak_message_to_dublin_about_explosive_was_sent_to_incorrect_address.html

[Guest Speed Racer]

Are you referring to the fact that he's not suing? Never having been in that situation, I don't know that I would necessarily sue. He had bomb parts in his luggage and police did what they were supposed to do. I imagine they will reimburse him for material damages any way, and I feel like suing them out of spite would cost him more than he would gain.

[Doug C]

Speed, I should have titled it '... AVERAGE American', of which most VCers are not! If he were an American, especially if it were an American airline, police force, etc., and did not at least threaten litigation, I would be stunned. I believe that most of us here in the land of 1-800-ASK-GARY/I want a payday (and I don't mean peanutty nougat) would see dollar signs. I hope that I wouldn't. I'd be happy with an apology and a nice Slovak vacation!

[Guest Speed Racer]

I don't think any lawyer, especially one hoping for any sort of payout, would ever bother trying to sue a police agency for arresting or detaining someone with plastic explosives, you just can't. As for the Slovakian agency that planted the bombs, I don't think a court of law in this day and age would be interested in restricting the way that agencies around the globe are allowed to keep passengers safe.

 

The only people who sue for that kind of stuff are extraordinary cases; I can only imagine that extraordinarly stupid people in America are just as extraordinarly stupid as people in Slovakia or Ireland. Average Americans generally don't sue anyone for personal damages, period.

[Doug C]

Okay. It just struck me as funny. I regret starting the thread. I should just delete it.

 

The article does state this, though: "According to the Nový čas daily, Gonda could sue Slovak police and ask for non-material damage, but he is not gong to do that, according to his wife.".

[Dude]

There's a lot of confusion in this situation, but it seems like it wasn't a real bomb that they planted, it was an imitation used to train dogs. Why they selected someone's luggage to stick the materials in is a whole other issue. That seems boneheaded, even if the agencies were all notified it was happening (which they apparently weren't).

[The High Heat]

Poprd-Tatry airport

I thought it read Pop Tarty airport!

[Guest Speed Racer]

There's a lot of confusion in this situation, but it seems like it wasn't a real bomb that they planted, it was an imitation used to train dogs. Why they selected someone's luggage to stick the materials in is a whole other issue. That seems boneheaded, even if the agencies were all notified it was happening (which they apparently weren't).

 

A similar thing happened in Minneapolis earlier this week. Airlines apparently have a "final bag" they put on the baggage belt last, to alert staff that all the bags are off the plane. One of these final bags had a few bomb parts left in it from a recent training exercise, and bomb dogs found it and they had to evacuate the terminal while they sorted it out.

[Ghost of Electricity]

I don't think any lawyer, especially one hoping for any sort of payout, would ever bother trying to sue a police agency for arresting or detaining someone with plastic explosives, you just can't. As for the Slovakian agency that planted the bombs, I don't think a court of law in this day and age would be interested in restricting the way that agencies around the globe are allowed to keep passengers safe.

 

The only people who sue for that kind of stuff are extraordinary cases; I can only imagine that extraordinarly stupid people in America are just as extraordinarly stupid as people in Slovakia or Ireland. Average Americans generally don't sue anyone for personal damages, period.

Not sure if I agree with that. After I graduated college I was renting the house i grew up in from my parents with some friends of mine and friends of my brother's. One of them managed to burn the place down. Then he turned around and, presumabbly under the influence of an ambulance chaser, decided to sue my parents.

 

Needless to say, that spelled the end of any friendship. But don't worry, the story has a happy ending: My parents (or at least their insurance company) won the case, and my by now former friend "turned his life around:" he had been working as a bartender but decided to change careers. He became a lawyer.

 

Oh, yeah, and it's spelled "Poprad"

[Guest Speed Racer]

Not sure if I agree with that. After I graduated college I was renting the house i grew up in from my parents with some friends of mine and friends of my brother's. One of them managed to burn the place down. Then he turned around and, presumabbly under the influence of an ambulance chaser, decided to sue my parents.

 

I'm sorry for the situation you and your family were in, but that doesn't have a whole lot to do with airlines, security agencies and terrorism. And again, some people are litigation happy, but in no way to they make up the majority of Americans.

[Ghost of Electricity]

I'm sorry for the situation you and your family were in, but that doesn't have a whole lot to do with airlines, security agencies and terrorism. And again, some people are litigation happy, but in no way to they make up the majority of Americans.

No, it has nothing to do with airline, security agencies, or terrorism. My point was that litigation is omnipresent on the American cultural landscape, and that it even rears its ugly head among those who you wouldn't expect. So if you say that the average American is not litigation happy, it may be that he or she simply hasn't had the opportunity to sue anyone yet.

 

I'm exaggerating here, as I would tend to agree that the majority (i.e. 51% or more) of Americans are not like this, but at the same time I do think that the minority who are to some degree are pretty high profile and also fairly sizeable.

 

I might also add that I know of know other country where this is the case. Someone taking McDonald's to court because the coffe is too hot, or the urban myth about the burglar who slipped on the freshly waxed kitchen floor of the house he had broken into, then proceed to sue the owners of the house. These are stories that could only have come from the good ole' U.S. of A.

 

Terrorism, on the other hand and as evidenced by this incident, has quickly become a part of world culture.

[bleedorange]

The McDonald's coffee suit was legitimate. It always irks me when people use that as their example of "litigation gone awry."

[Guest Speed Racer]

These are stories that could only have come from the good ole' U.S. of A.

 

The tack on to what bleedorange said, we also get a Constitution out of the deal. I'd rather a few high profile, frivolous law suits come out of a decent constitution than live in a country without either.

 

And really? You referred to a probably false urban legend to support your point?

[Ghost of Electricity]

And really? You referred to a probably false urban legend to support your point?

Of course. I'm not concerned with whether or not the story is factual, it reveals a certain truth about American culture even if it isn't, perhaps even MORE if it isn't.

 

And just so you don't think I'm America-bashing (which I'm not, or at least not intending to) you shouldn't ignore the flipside of the coin, which is that the culture of litigation has actually provided a service to the general public in terms of increasing the overall level of public safety.