Dead protester's family sues manufacturer

[Cougar Mag]

Can you believe this? The parents of a 23-yr. old activist killed while tring to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home have sued Caterpillar Inc., the company that made the bulldozer that ran over her.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court, alledging that CAT violated international and state law by providing specially designed bulldozers to Israeli Defense Forces, knowing the machines would be used to demolish homes and endanger people.

Rachel Corrie, a student at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, was standing in front of a home in a refugee camp in Rafah, a Gaza Strip city near the Egyptian border on March 16, 2003, when a bulldozer plowed over her. The girl's mother said in a statement released by the Center for Constitutional Rights, one of the law firms handling the case. "We believe CAT and the Israeli Defense Forces must be held accountable for their role in the attack." Rachel's parents are pursuing seperate claims against Israel, the Israeli Defense Ministry, and Israeli Defense Forces.

In a written statement released by CAT, "Caterpillar shares the worlds concern over unrest in the Middle East and we certainly have compassion for all those affected by political strife". However, more than 2 million Caterpillar machines and engines are at work in virtually every region of the world each day. We have neither the legal right nor the means to police individual use of that equipment."

It doesn't take much of a brain to realize you shouldn't stand in front of a bulldozer.

[Tazman]

Any judge with an ounce of sense would throw that out of court.

[DougMD]

That's not enough. The family should be fined a few hundred thousand dollars for bringing the case to start with! There needs to be a penalty for bringing such frivolous lawsuits that tie up the court resources, etc.

[bawanajim]

We have the same problem here in North west P.A.
The idiots think meth is cool,you know Drano , Sudifed,coleman fuel ,The good people of the area want sales of this stuff banned or more warning labels put on the bottles.Ha!
If you are dumb enough to stand in front of a dozer you would probably drink Drano,in either case the results are the same. I don't think a warning label would help any of these people.
This sounds like a candidate for a darwin award.

[Aught Six]

What an imbecilic wench! I can't even articulate my thoughts on here for fear of moderator reprisals.

[bnhcomputing]

This will NOT be thrown out. This WILL go to trial and these people WILL get a big settlement. Our judges are too stupid they will let it stand. The public will say "they can afford it"¦" just like the McDonalds thing a while back, and the liars (lawyers) on both sides will make millions.

The solution:

Every seven (7) years, shoot all the liars (lawyers).

[Alsatian]

We should have a legal system where the loser pays the court costs of the opponent. This would substantially reduce the trivial law suites being filed. And there ought to be a component of this that puts the losing attorney on the hook for this, too.

I personally think the judges may throw this out of court. It is prima facie absurd.

[stuckinthereeds]

if any of you have ever worked heavy machinery, you know they arn't the easiest to see over.

What a crock of sh$#

[tardfarmer]

Any judge with an ounce of sense would throw that out of court.

YOU WANNA BET!

I'll bet you they get a fortune off of CAT for their daughter's lunacy.

[bawanajim]

Hopfully they will use any money they recieve towards birth control.They have proven they are unfit to raise children.