Woman Sues Cox After Tripping Over Coax

Who do you think runs companies? ADULTS.

I dunno, have you seen some of the companies that are begging for money on Kickstarter? :)

Also, yeah, go be prego guys (not just fat either, but prego) when you have some itteh bitteh human committeh kicking all your internal organs and pushing them around to places they shouldn't be while also having vertigo and being like way off balance from just weight in odd places and get back to us about not tripping over stuff.
 
She KNEW it was there... yet she tripped over it and got injured.... hmmmm.... she wasn't looking for a payout was she? :)
 
She KNEW it was there... yet she tripped over it and got injured.... hmmmm.... she wasn't looking for a payout was she? :)

Someone mentioned it before, but how many times have you tripped on a staircase you KNEW you were on or tripped over one of those thingies that's on the floor in a doorway that's under a door? If you say never, you're sooo being a liar or have like alzheimer's disease.
 
one of those thingies that's on the floor in a doorway that's under a door
Why is it that women know what tresses, mascarpone, and wisteria is, and yet everyday common tools and appliances are always "thingimajigger under the thing over by the thingy".
 
on one hand, yes its a little ridiculous. this woman knew full well that cable was there. i do see this as a frivolous lawsuit.

however, i hope she wins it. it would send a clear message to the cable and phone companies that pull this crap and leave lines across your yard for months on end.

i remember a problem i had with bell years back...installed a line, my buried wire was no good. they wired into a neighbours box and strung the cable over fences. they couldn't even be bothered to put it on the ground! clear safety hazard and when i asked them to fix this, they said no too bad we did our job. so, i kindly informed them that there was a 5 year old child living in my home and one next door....and what might happen should one of them get tangled up in this wire and be injured. had it rerouted to the ground next day. amazing isn't it?
 
Why is it that women know what tresses, mascarpone, and wisteria is, and yet everyday common tools and appliances are always "thingimajigger under the thing over by the thingy".

There are people out there that like to invent dumb, meaningless names for things. Go read a textbook about labor economics and tell me there's a point in calling something a "hedonic wage function" and lemme know people don't go overboard in the opposite direction.

Yes, because you know EVERYTHING don't you? Hint - You don't.... you just like to THINK you do.

Oh sorry. You levitate everywhere and have never tripped over anything, right? :) Or did you get all grumbly-face because it takes someone else to remind people that they trip over things too?
 
Someone mentioned it before, but how many times have you tripped on a staircase you KNEW you were on or tripped over one of those thingies that's on the floor in a doorway that's under a door? If you say never, you're sooo being a liar or have like alzheimer's disease.

I do it all the time. It was my fault. Even if I step on a Lego, I'm pissed, but I'm not going to take it out on my kids. I'll make them pick up the mess, but I'm not going to punish them or anything.

I'm just big on personal responsibility, though. For others, the whole thing could have been avoided if Cox had buried it. A lot of accidents could easily have been avoided if someone else had done something different (finished the job, did the job right, used the right tools, etc). But, I can't rely on other people to do that. I have to watch out for myself and take responsibility for myself. If they do a crap job, I work around it while getting them to fix it. If I fall in a hole that was there for 3 months, that's on me. I didn't dig the hole, but it was there and I fell in it. If I trip on a wire that I knew was there (even on accident) - that's on me.

She has a claim, I just don't agree with it. Give her $50 and a carton of smokes, and let it be settled.
 
I do it all the time. It was my fault. Even if I step on a Lego, I'm pissed, but I'm not going to take it out on my kids. I'll make them pick up the mess, but I'm not going to punish them or anything.

I'm just big on personal responsibility, though. For others, the whole thing could have been avoided if Cox had buried it. A lot of accidents could easily have been avoided if someone else had done something different (finished the job, did the job right, used the right tools, etc). But, I can't rely on other people to do that. I have to watch out for myself and take responsibility for myself. If they do a crap job, I work around it while getting them to fix it. If I fall in a hole that was there for 3 months, that's on me. I didn't dig the hole, but it was there and I fell in it. If I trip on a wire that I knew was there (even on accident) - that's on me.

She has a claim, I just don't agree with it. Give her $50 and a carton of smokes, and let it be settled.

Yup, all that's completely reasonable. At most, I think she ought to get whatever her medical expenses are (though there's like a history of court precedence that says you're entitled up to x3 of your costs in damages which probably still isn't unreasonable for what it seems like she had in injuries). I think that being personally responsible should extend to companies just like it does to individual people.

I just don't get the anger and silliness over tripping over something. Everyone does it except for Levitating QwertyJuan, so some of the crazy-cakes comments to the contrary seem out there.
 
Or did you get all grumbly-face because it takes someone else to remind people that they trip over things too?
If I go full retard and trip on something I knew full well was there, I just consider myself a dumbass and hope no one watched. I don't get up, do a little victory dance, and hope I get rich from a lawsuit for being an idiot.
 
If I go full retard and trip on something I knew full well was there, I just consider myself a dumbass and hope no one watched. I don't get up, do a little victory dance, and hope I get rich from a lawsuit for being an idiot.

It seems like your angsty feelings should be directed at a legal system which permits stuff like this. McDonald's coffee burns anyone? Stuff like this has been happening since forever and if people are upset about it, maybe they should try to address systemic legal problems instead of flipping out in a computer forum. Also, I'm pretty sure that there are circumstances in which legal recourse is important because of the severe nature of the injuries or whatever. That's why courts are charged to look at circumstances in each individual case rather than just saying "Okay, this solution of glove fits all situations." Our legal system and understanding of justice doesn't work in big blanket answers.
 
There's this one person I work with that recently switched from DSL to Comcast and they like did pretty much the same thing where they installed the service and then just left the cable laying in the yard. It went through their neighbor's yard too and the neighbor got it caught somehow in his lawn mower at some point.

I had a company I did IT work for call me up saying their internet stopped working. They mentioned it stopped working around the same time their grass was getting cut. I traced the cable to a wall in the rear of the building. It exited the building, ran down the wall and across the lawn then up the pole. The lawn mower shredded it to pieces. :eek:
 
anybody that has a lady they care for preggers may have gone through a scare. it requires in some states like wisconsin 6-24 hours of hospital observation after a fall in fear of the mother or child losing their lives which is not cheap. They should pay for her medical bills and nothing outrageous beyond that (loss of work/pay etc is fine)
 
It seems like your angsty feelings should be directed at a legal system which permits stuff like this. McDonald's coffee burns anyone?
Actually, believe it or not I agree that McDonald's should have been sued for the coffee burns in that particular instance. Its not that their coffee was hot, but that it was ridiculously scalding hot way past the pain threshold for anyone to actually drink it, and they were warned about it before to lower the temperature of their coffee machines.

So yes the person that spilled the coffee in that instance fumbled stupidly, but there shouldn't have been massive third degree burns from the incident, which left her hospitalized for eight days requiring skin grafts and lost like a quarter of her body weight in recovery.

But there's a big difference between that and tripping on a wire you knew was in your yard. The McDonald's incident is more akin to say a business removing the safety bars around the intake of a wood chipper, and then someone got sucked in.
 
I had a company I did IT work for call me up saying their internet stopped working. They mentioned it stopped working around the same time their grass was getting cut. I traced the cable to a wall in the rear of the building. It exited the building, ran down the wall and across the lawn then up the pole. The lawn mower shredded it to pieces. :eek:

Oops! But yeah, that happens a lot more often than I thought. Until this topic came up, I had thought the non-buried cable was sort of an exception and rare mistake. It doesn't seem like it's uncommon at all, which is pretty sad.

Actually, believe it or not I agree that McDonald's should have been sued for the coffee burns in that particular instance. Its not that their coffee was hot, but that it was ridiculously scalding hot way past the pain threshold for anyone to actually drink it, and they were warned about it before to lower the temperature of their coffee machines.

So yes the person that spilled the coffee in that instance fumbled stupidly, but there shouldn't have been massive third degree burns from the incident, which left her hospitalized for eight days requiring skin grafts and lost like a quarter of her body weight in recovery.

But there's a big difference between that and tripping on a wire you knew was in your yard. The McDonald's incident is more akin to say a business removing the safety bars around the intake of a wood chipper, and then someone got sucked in.

Well you're doing exactly what would happen in a civil suit case too! You're considering the circumstances and making a decision about. Until we find out what happens in court, we probably ought to not jump to conclusions about the whole thing. Aaaand, if Cox settles out of court for a huge amount of money (I think McDonald's did too) then that's the company's decision and there's not even a court really involved. Let's wait and see what happens. :)
 
There's this one person I work with that recently switched from DSL to Comcast and they like did pretty much the same thing where they installed the service and then just left the cable laying in the yard. It went through their neighbor's yard too and the neighbor got it caught somehow in his lawn mower at some point.

Technically we're not supposed to run through other peoples yards or over driveways. Where we are, it's highly seasonal, so if it's summer and their neighbour wasn't in, I'd double check with the customer and if they were ok with it, I'd lay a temp through a yard or a driveway to get them back online ASAP vs waiting for a bury and bore crew. It was kind of a situational thing.

What I did on EVERY temp drop, was leave it as in the way and visible as possible. Some guys want to have it hid so it looks nicer. But I'd rather have it be an eyesore. If it goes longer than the 10 days because somehow the bury order fell through the cracks I'd rather have them call in and bitch and complain about it, than forget about it until they mow their lawn and all their shit is out again.
 
What I did on EVERY temp drop, was leave it as in the way and visible as possible. Some guys want to have it hid so it looks nicer. But I'd rather have it be an eyesore. If it goes longer than the 10 days because somehow the bury order fell through the cracks I'd rather have them call in and bitch and complain about it, than forget about it until they mow their lawn and all their shit is out again.
On my drop they sprayed the grass with fluorescent orange paint for where it was to be dug, with the wire on top of that clearly marked part. That would be a smart business practice, as its not like the yard isn't going to be scarred until regrowth anyway when you bury it, and knowing this lady she would have tripped on the "scar" since its never perfectly smooth and sued anyway.
 
I love the fact that people assume they know exactly what happened (aka looking for a payout) from a 3 sentence post on a broadband website.

While yes one should be expected to be more careful when there are known and obvious safefy hazards like a cable on the ground.

It is also the cable companies responsibility to safely install the infrastructure.

Now you can say there is some window of reasonable expected risk while scheduling proper/complete installation.

If the lady followed up and tried to have the company COMPLETE the installation and said reasonable time is up, the risk is ALL on the company.

Accidents happen, the cable company is liable. I don't care how tough you are, doesn't make the fact companies routinely "save" money by not completing their work. They should pay for their gamble. As been mentioned in this thread and in the article... everyone knows all the companies don't give a crap except the minimum to get you to pay your monthly service.

Lawsuits like this is really one of the only ways to really get a company to do the right thing. If they have to payout enough, they will sure shit have trench crew onsite like they should have in the first place. This is also why lawsuits have to have penalties awarded cause companies do the math all the time instead of the right thing.
 
Blaming the victim of obvious corporate complacency.. welcome to republican America.
 
Blaming the victim of obvious corporate complacency.. welcome to republican America.

I don't know that Republicans are to blame for this. Negligence doesn't care which political party you lean towards (I'm a registered Democrat) -- it's not like the company was trying to save a buck by not properly installing the cable. That's on the contractor that did it. The real problem is that the company WAS notified and they did nothing about it.

You could argue though that the lack of regulation is a republican-led issue... companies like this should require install inspections, and for contractors to be certified and OSHA compliant - even if it's for a residency, the area becomes part of the workplace for the contractor at the time and they're supposed to adhere to all safety standards.

Also, people simply thinking that this was for a payout - so what? If it sends a strong message and they make changes to make things safer for everyone, then great! Let the "golddigger" have her money, she deserves it if she brings about change. Those of you criticizing her and saying you'd be going full retard for tripping -- you'll be old some day. You will trip on things that a younger you would be laughing at, and you could get injured or worse - you could die.
 
When I had cable and the Comcast didn't trench the cable to the house and left it laying in the yard I purposefully cut it with the mower every weekend until the came and trenched it in. It amazes me that they argued that it would take to long to dig a trench and put the cable in it yet found time to come and re run the line every week for like 3 months.
 
The company should be accountable, just not fully to the accidentee. Have them pay some hefty 6 or 7 figure fines to one of those oversight agencies that look out for consumer safety, cover the medical fees of the accidentee, and call it a day :)
 
Where do you guys and girls live where they leave cables on the lawn? Are these all in areas without poles? I live in Maine and I've never encountered anyone even mentioning this locally. 99% of cable installs go from a telephone pole through the air to people's roofs. Then the cables go down the side of the building.
 
OP link is broken. This is the article I believe Steve meant to link towards: Woman Sues Cox After Tripping Over Coax (Broadband Reports (Karl Bode))

This news item appears to be further sub-sourced through Stop The Cap! in their article "The Menace of the Unburied Line" as the original story appears to have happened sometime in October as per The Louisiana Record's "Pregnant woman sues Cox Communications after tripping on exposed cable in mother’s back yard", October 29, 2014, Kyle Barnett; Retrieved Nov 18, 2014, 11:46 AM

Obviously, with the dates being off, 'Stop The Cap!' has an axe to grind. In my experience, the people who do the work for the cable companies (here the biggest one is Comcast) in the tri-state area of NJ, PA, Delaware are contractors. I'm not sure if they're unionized but yeah, they're contractors. Usually, they're terrible with punctuality and such and they've done things like steal cable amplifiers (that we owned/bought privately), stuff like that. Class acts, in other words. :rolleyes:

As per the article in the Louisiana Record:
Melancon contends that Cox Communications installed services and accompanying wires at her mother’s home... on June 7, 2013 and [Cox] left wires exposed in the backyard, yet promised to bury them at a later date. The plaintiff asserts that the wires were not buried and that on Aug. 26, 2013, when she was eight months pregnant, she tripped and fell over a large wired [sic] that had been left unburied. Melancon claims that Cox Communications had already been informed that the wire had not been buried and the next day another request was put in to bury the wire and on Aug. 29, 2013 the wire was buried.

The plaintiff alleges she injured her arm, right side and received soreness and other bodily injuries in the incident. An unspecified amount in damages is sought for physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, lost wages, disability, impairment of earning capacity and medical expenses.
- all emphasis mine.

Mental anguish? Lost wages? Impairment of earning capacity? If she was working previous to pregnancy, Louisiana law probably has her on maternal leave, being in the eighth (8th) month of pregnancy and all...

A quick trip to Google Maps/Street View show the address looking quite nice, falling onto some grass, so medical expenses for an ice pack at best?

People shouldn't dick around with the legal system like this, slipping and falling on a coax is somewhat common anyway. Who isn't to say the lack of Cox and imbalanced hormones didn't make her pursue the lawsuit anyway? Your average Dick and Jane are right in the fact that these companies are real wankers, but in the end, you might have a harder time if you go and enrage Cox. Not familiar with the FCC laws but given typical business law, Cox might have a right to block you, especially after enraging Cox with frivolous legal action.

In either case, the contractors responsible in the general scheme of things seem to be real jerk offs... but if you want reasonable internet in that area, you're getting screwed by the monopoly, so, you're getting Cox one way or another.
 
Who isn't to say the lack of Cox and imbalanced hormones didn't make her pursue the lawsuit anyway? Your average Dick and Jane are right in the fact that these companies are real wankers, but in the end, you might have a harder time if you go and enrage Cox.
> Lack of Cox
> average Dick
> real wankers
> harder time if you go and enrage Cox

So much double-entendre.
 
Comcast did the same thing to my grandparents years ago and left it that way for at least a year before my grandfather passed away from non-tripping over the exposed cable causes and my grandmother moved out. As far as I know, its still there. I still don't know how my grandparents never tripped over it.
 
Obviously, with the dates being off, 'Stop The Cap!' has an axe to grind. In my experience, the people who do the work for the cable companies (here the biggest one is Comcast) in the tri-state area of NJ, PA, Delaware are contractors. I'm not sure if they're unionized but yeah, they're contractors. Usually, they're terrible with punctuality and such and they've done things like steal cable amplifiers (that we owned/bought privately), stuff like that. Class acts, in other words. :rolleyes:

Yep. Contractors can have terrible performances and not really have repercussions because they're contractors. What can you expect when you get the lowest bidder?

Mental anguish? Lost wages? Impairment of earning capacity? If she was working previous to pregnancy, Louisiana law probably has her on maternal leave, being in the eighth (8th) month of pregnancy and all...

Let's not kid ourselves here -- that's just the lawyer tacking on as much as they can The judge will determine if those charges are full of shit - and they're usually pretty good about it, too.

A quick trip to Google Maps/Street View show the address looking quite nice, falling onto some grass, so medical expenses for an ice pack at best?

Keep in mind that this is a pregnant woman. Any type of fall, as harmless as it may look to us, can be deadly for them or their children.. or both. It really does have the capacity to do serious injury to someone.

Your average Dick and Jane are right in the fact that these companies are real wankers, but in the end, you might have a harder time if you go and enrage Cox. Not familiar with the FCC laws but given typical business law, Cox might have a right to block you, especially after enraging Cox with frivolous legal action.
It looks like they tried the sensible route first by notifying Cox about the cable.

In either case, the contractors responsible in the general scheme of things seem to be real jerk offs... but if you want reasonable internet in that area, you're getting screwed by the monopoly, so, you're getting Cox one way or another.

The thing is, while contractors are a separate entity, they do represent Cox :( And so Cox needs to be held liable, especially since they chose to go with the lowest bidder.
 
Mental anguish? Lost wages? Impairment of earning capacity? If she was working previous to pregnancy, Louisiana law probably has her on maternal leave, being in the eighth (8th) month of pregnancy and all...

It's not uncommon for women to work right up until they start going into labor. I only did a quick search but did not find anything relating to Louisiana law that would have given her paid maternity leave, so I'm going to assume like most women she was working as long as she could. Depending on the extent of the injuries, there is also a likelihood she was not able to return to work as soon after delivery as she would have liked, or needed. Most times women are cleared to return to work in as soon as 6 weeks post partum. And there could be long term implications to her earning potentials also depending on exactly what the extinct of her injuries were. I also imagine there was mental anguish due to the fact she fell while pregnant.

A quick trip to Google Maps/Street View show the address looking quite nice, falling onto some grass, so medical expenses for an ice pack at best?

So because there was grass means there was no soil or dirt underneath it? Or she may have fallen on concrete depending on where she tripped? Or even rocks on the surface under the grass? How about she was 8 months pregnant and likely needed testing to make sure the child she was carrying wasn't injured in the fall.

People shouldn't dick around with the legal system like this, slipping and falling on a coax is somewhat common anyway. Who isn't to say the lack of Cox and imbalanced hormones didn't make her pursue the lawsuit anyway? Your average Dick and Jane are right in the fact that these companies are real wankers, but in the end, you might have a harder time if you go and enrage Cox. Not familiar with the FCC laws but given typical business law, Cox might have a right to block you, especially after enraging Cox with frivolous legal action.

Is it common to trip on coax left unburied from the cable company after 10 weeks? Should it still not be the providers responsibility to bury the line after multiple complaints? I'm not sure what you are trying to say that she filed the lawsuit over imbalanced hormones. The lawsuit was filed approximately more than a year after the incident since it happened in August 2013 and the lawsuit seemed to have been filed sometime in October 2014. I highly doubt there are too many hormonal imbalances making her pursue a civil suit.
 
After seeing Louisiana, pregnant, and sue in the same story, I had a hunch that she'd be...

BIG, REALLY BIG.

I been there and seen that, women in Louisiana are either trailer trash skinny or Big Momma fat, there is no in between, only women on the path to being one or the other.
 
I'm not saying that she doesn't have the right to be pissed as a customer, but to go full retard and trip on something you have complained about repeatedly? These are the people that used to be the first to be eaten by sabertooths or wander into a tar pit and what not so we didn't have to deal with them. You know she's going to sue for the value of her house for pain and suffering.

Yup, just search youtube for those cell-phone fails.
 
Umm.. no, that has nothing to do with it.

The jerks on here blaming the victim are just jerks. Political affiliation has nothing to do with it.

But I wouldn't expect a lib to understand that.

Except there is no Victim here..some of you seriously need to learn the definitions of words before throwing them around.

As I said before, Cox does need to be held liable for failing to get the cable buried. However this woman is absolutely NOT a victim and isn't entitled to be treated as such. She is just another low life gold digging fraudster.
An unspecified amount in damages is sought for physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, lost wages, disability, impairment of earning capacity and medical expenses.

This is legal jargon that describes just that exact thing. They are seeking to hit cox with some retarded number so they can negotiate down to a still extremely high but still retarded number. Some of you bleeding hearts seriously need to check your "Stick it to the man" mentality. Yes Cox IS responsible for failing to do their job and should be held liable to some degree, but not anywhere close to the degree some of you are hoping. I'm all for seeing big corporations get screwed for terrible practices and screwing people over. I am not willing to support a blatant gold digger with an extremely trumped up case that would be tantamount to Fraud anywhere else though.
 
Except there is no Victim here..some of you seriously need to learn the definitions of words before throwing them around.

As I said before, Cox does need to be held liable for failing to get the cable buried. However this woman is absolutely NOT a victim and isn't entitled to be treated as such. She is just another low life gold digging fraudster.


This is legal jargon that describes just that exact thing. They are seeking to hit cox with some retarded number so they can negotiate down to a still extremely high but still retarded number. Some of you bleeding hearts seriously need to check your "Stick it to the man" mentality. Yes Cox IS responsible for failing to do their job and should be held liable to some degree, but not anywhere close to the degree some of you are hoping. I'm all for seeing big corporations get screwed for terrible practices and screwing people over. I am not willing to support a blatant gold digger with an extremely trumped up case that would be tantamount to Fraud anywhere else though.

Dude, she was pregnant when she fell. Do you have any real life experience t realize the dangers she and her baby could've been exposed to? Just because she didn't get life threatening injuries (this time) doesn't mean it's any less dangerous. You're seriously underestimating this. I suggest you educate yourself.

You know what? I may be willing to give you some slack if she was a non-pregnant woman. But she was, and it completely changes the game. C'mon man.

As for the jargon, do you realize -- can we at least agree -- that it's the attorney that is responsible for this and not the woman?
 
Dude, she was pregnant when she fell. Do you have any real life experience t realize the dangers she and her baby could've been exposed to? Just because she didn't get life threatening injuries (this time) doesn't mean it's any less dangerous. You're seriously underestimating this. I suggest you educate yourself.

You know what? I may be willing to give you some slack if she was a non-pregnant woman. But she was, and it completely changes the game. C'mon man.

As for the jargon, do you realize -- can we at least agree -- that it's the attorney that is responsible for this and not the woman?

I have two kids actually, been there done that. That is actually why I am seeing this exactly for what it is and not being taken by the "but she was pregnant" sympathy card. Even my wife is calling bullshit on this one. Pregnancy isn't a disability, some of you act like women are completely incapacitated or some shit.
 
Good for her.
Seriously, when I worked for ***(3 letter word, rhymes with rocks) customers were being charged for installing the cables, they'd leave them on the ground with a promise to be back to complete install, then never go back.
I'd get 2-5 calls a day about it.
Supervisors would tell me to "Just lie and say they're coming, pretend to set a date, they'll get tired of calling."
Yuppers, assholes.
Its a common practice and these bastards are going to keep pulling the same shit until they're FORCED to change.
 
Buried cable or not, I am still allowed to be on my property - or any of my relatives' - and do whatever the hell I want - or allowed in the case of my relatives'. I see no point in staying off my property just because some people are too stupid to do the job they're supposed to do.

If a steep out of court settlement is what it takes for them to get the message, so bet it.
Good for her!
 
Good for her.
Seriously, when I worked for ***(3 letter word, rhymes with rocks) customers were being charged for installing the cables, they'd leave them on the ground with a promise to be back to complete install, then never go back.
I'd get 2-5 calls a day about it.

Wait were you guys charging people for running their outside drops????
 
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