Tim Hoffman is a 26-year old former construction worker who is essentially paralyzed from the neck down as a result of injuries he sustained when, on a dare, he jumped off a dock in Florida and broke his neck. A jury awarded him $1.5 million for past medical expenses, $89,000 for lost earnings, $21.7 million for future medical expenses, $583,000 for future lost earnings - and an incredible $52.8 million in pain and suffering. But there is more to the story. Hoffman was a temporary worker sent by an employment agency to work for C&D Dock Works, the general contractor working on repairing the dock in question. Evidently, Hoffman was goaded by fellow workers into jumping into the water on a dare for $20. So, taking a running start, he cleared the railing at the edge of the dock and landed 10 feet below on his head in a foot of water, breaking his neck between the fifth and sixth vertebrae. This foolish tragedy was the consequence of a willful decision made by an adult to do something dangerous. As for C&D Dock Works, they have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy as a result of the incident.

Tags: frivolous lawsuit

In the era of the Internet, many newspapers must be feeling like they are going the way of buggy-whip manufacturers. Some papers are going out of business, and others are reducing the number of days per week that they actually print the paper. Generally, newspaper advertising comes from advertising and subscriptions. But, the Financial Times has discovered a new revenue source: Suing their customers! It seems that one of their business customers had paid to access subscription-only content on the website maintained by the Financial Times, (FT.com), and had been sharing a single username and password among its employees. As a result, FT claims that it is entitled to damages based on “infringement”, in addition to “increased statutory damages” due to the “willful nature” of the infringement.