Lawsuits that make you go “Huh?”
According to facts laid out in a lower-court opinion, in 2003 Lisa Nutley celebrated her birthday by going skydiving for the first time. First-timers always jump “tandem,” meaning that they are strapped to an experienced instructor who directs the jump and controls the parachute.But Nutley’s jump went sour, as the worst fear of the beginning skydiver came true: the main chute failed to open. Her instructor, though, worked to deploy a reserve chute and, after an undoubtedly terrifying interval of freefall, the two landed safely.
Except for those broken fingers, which had been fractured somewhere in the hubbub and commotion of trying not to die. Nutley reacted by suing Skydive the Ranch, the outfit that ran the excursion.
It has taken a few years, but Skydive last week got its wish and had the case dismissed.
Comment by Carin on 8/21 @ 7:46 am #
Huh. You mean … skydiving might be dangerous? Who’d have thought?
Comment by Pablo on 8/21 @ 7:56 am #
And how did her fingers get broken? She’s in front of the instructor, the chute is behind him. The easy answer is, she was freaking out and flailing around and got a couple busted fingers for her trouble. Sort of like when you’re saving a drowning person who won’t stop freaking out, so you knock them out so they don’t wind up drowning both of you.
Skydive should have offered to settle with her for a free jump. Solo.
Comment by sdferr on 8/21 @ 8:20 am #
Opportunistic assholes like Nutley who make you go “Ah, more of the same. Lots of human beings suck. What’s new?”
Comment by Slartibartfast on 8/21 @ 8:37 am #
I’m guessing that he broke her fingers on purpose, trying to get her to let go of some crucial bit or other.
But really: you get to live, and you sue over broken fingers? She’s lucky she didn’t break a leg or two.
Comment by lonetown on 8/21 @ 8:54 am #
Having done the tandem jump and signed all the forms indemnifying the service provider, I’m surprised it even got to court.
I think I even indemnified them if the pilot was drunk.
Comment by bigbooner on 8/21 @ 9:14 am #
Maybe she also had a fear of heights. That would have sealed the deal.
Comment by Shtetl G on 8/21 @ 10:32 am #
I will never sky dive for the simple reason that if anything ever goes wrong, I will have minutes to contemplate why I jumped out of a perfectly working airplane. That is not how I want to spend the last minutes of my life.
Comment by The Sanity Inspector on 8/21 @ 10:51 am #
Skydiving, pishposh! It’s only ten thousand feet up, and you don’t have to worry about the first 9,999.
Comment by JD on 8/21 @ 3:17 pm #
I blame Bush. And Rush. And Palin. And racists.
Comment by West on 8/21 @ 8:38 pm #
Shethl G, If you ever saw a typical skydiving aircraft, with all the bulkheads torn out, all seats and padding removed, loose rivets, hinges, etc., and just enough instruments left in the cockpit to get to 10K and hopefully land again, you would have less doubts about jumping out of it.
Not to mention that it’s one hell of a lot of fun.
Comment by PMain on 8/21 @ 9:25 pm #
In most tandem rigs, the main & reserve chute release is in the front, attached to customer. The instructor/professional can reach it, but if that person is panicing – good luck. Also, most rigs I have seen, if you reach a certain height & the main hasn’t released the reserve automatically opens. All of which is covered in the hours of education one most go through before being allowed to jump. Solo jumps require a day to 2 in education before being allowed. An hour is spent signing the releases for all jumps & mine was video taped.
Comment by Darleen on 8/22 @ 10:36 am #
Not to mention that it’s one hell of a lot of fun.
That’s always been my dad’s story…he was a paratrooper (Army 11th Airborne) — gave it up when he got married, but he was very proud when my #3 daughter did a couple skydiving jumps for fun.
Me? Skiing is as risky as I want to get.