Jury rules for Pocono Raceway, NASCAR in lawsuit on fan’s death by lightning

dpkimmel2001

dpkimmel2001

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A Pennsylvania jury ruled Monday for Pocono Raceway and NASCAR in lawsuits brought against both by the widow of a fan killed and others injured in lightning strikes at the track on Aug. 5, 2012.

The case was heard in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County.

Brian Zimmerman, 41, of Moosic, Pa., was killed when he was struck by lightning in the parking lot behind the frontstretch grandstands. A second strike also hit the parking lot. Ten fans were injured.

The three lawsuits alleged that if the race had been stopped when a severe storm warning was first issued, it would have provided sufficient time for those struck to have found proper shelter.

A severe storm warning was issued at 4:12 p.m. The track issued warnings at 4:21 p.m. that high winds and lightning were on the way.

The Sprint Cup race was stopped at 4:54 p.m. ET after 98 of 160 laps. The fatal lightning strike was at 5:01 p.m.

The Trial Work Sheet in the case for all three lawsuits showed that even though the jury ruled for the defendants, it found Pocono Raceway negligent. However, on the question if “the negligence of Pocono International Raceway was a factual cause of any harm to … Brian Zimmerman,’’ the jury checked the box “No.’’ The jury also voted that way in the other two cases brought by fans injured by lightning.

The jury also stated it did not find NASCAR negligent in all three cases.

http://nascar.nbcsports.com/2016/07...nascar-in-lawsuit-on-fans-death-by-lightning/
 
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I think this is a large part of why people are actively working to become more and more stupid. If you can prove you couldn't know better, it has to be someone else's fault when your stupidity leads you to injury .. and you can 'get the money you deserve' as the lawyers love to say. What might possibly make you deserving of it defies me. What I fail to understand, tho, is ... it's much more work to be stupid than smart. Why would someone work harder at being stupid, to work harder still .. than make the easy effort to be smarter .. and work less in the long run? You'd have to start off pretty stupid for that to ever make sense.

Hey ... success!
 
Professur said:
I think this is a large part of why people are actively working to become more and more stupid. If you can prove you couldn't know better, it has to be someone else's fault when your stupidity leads you to injury .. and you can 'get the money you deserve' as the lawyers love to say. What might possibly make you deserving of it defies me. What I fail to understand, tho, is ... it's much more work to be stupid than smart. Why would someone work harder at being stupid, to work harder still .. than make the easy effort to be smarter .. and work less in the long run? You'd have to start off pretty stupid for that to ever make sense.

Hey ... success!
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Trying to read this post just made me stupider. :confused:
 
Sounds like the jury was made up with people that still posses some common sense , faith in humanity restored just a bit.
 
Glad to hear this! Pocono does a fine job. The last thing they need is a nonsense lawsuit....

In the day in age of smart phones basically everyone has access to the radar and other weather updates I don't see how you can be "out of the loop". The tracks can provide some information but it's on the person to head the warning.

I've worked at a two private clubs over the last 9 years. Both places have lightning/static detection systems. When it goes off it's up to the golfers to come in or seek shelter where they feel comfortable. At the end of the day they're at the mercy their decision and mother nature. When some go out with impending weather (within 30-45 minutes) I just shake my head.
 
Obviously I don't think Pocono was liable. But I think you guys are being a little tough on the guy with all the "stupid" and "common sense" stuff. He was running to his car after the race...same as thousands and thousands of other fans...same as you all have probably done when you've been stuck out in a storm. Sometimes, it's just sh*tty bad luck. Doesn't make him an idiot, or Pocono irresponsible. One in a million freak accident.
 
Allenbaba said:
Obviously I don't think Pocono was liable. But I think you guys are being a little tough on the guy with all the "stupid" and "common sense" stuff. He was running to his car after the race...same as thousands and thousands of other fans...same as you all have probably done when you've been stuck out in a storm. Sometimes, it's just sh*tty bad luck. Doesn't make him an idiot, or Pocono irresponsible. One in a million freak accident.
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I understand where you're coming from. I also see it as a tragic death and won't criticize the victim too harshly. He has already paid the ultimate price, and he didn't file the lawsuit.

That being said, there are plenty of people out there that have no respect for the power of Mother Nature. I do, and I would have been headed to my car the second I saw that severe thunderstorm warning on my phone, assuming I was actually able to get data during the race, and certainly once the announcement was made over the PA system. I don't play around with thunderstorms. When I see those dark clouds rolling in, I get my butt to shelter ASAP.

I do feel that the race should have been stopped sooner, but I don't think that NASCAR or the track should be held responsible for that guy's death or those fans' injuries. At the end of the day, people have to be smart, take responsibility for their own actions, know what's going on around them, and act accordingly regardless of whether or not anyone else does.
 
Allenbaba said:
Obviously I don't think Pocono was liable. But I think you guys are being a little tough on the guy with all the "stupid" and "common sense" stuff. He was running to his car after the race...same as thousands and thousands of other fans...same as you all have probably done when you've been stuck out in a storm. Sometimes, it's just sh*tty bad luck. Doesn't make him an idiot, or Pocono irresponsible. One in a million freak accident.
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But............ It DOES make his family look pretty greedy....... trying to get their 15 minutes of fame and cash in for a substantial amount of money that they were not entitled to........
 
People can be pretty dumb with lightning, my aunt had a relative who always said he wouldn't be struck by lightning because his father had been killed in a lightning strike....you can guess why he is no longer with us
 
kymartin6 said:
But............ It DOES make his family look pretty greedy....... trying to get their 15 minutes of fame and cash in for a substantial amount of money that they were not entitled to........
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On the surface, sure. But I'd be willing to bet the family was talked into filing suit by lawyers who took the case on contingency. We don't know that the family was proactive.
 
Allenbaba said:
On the surface, sure. But I'd be willing to bet the family was talked into filing suit by lawyers who took the case on contingency. We don't know that the family was proactive.
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Delorean was 'talked into' selling drugs by the same undercover cops that arrested him. He got off on entrapment ... but that doesn't change the fact that given the opportunity, he was still a willing drug dealer.
 
Allenbaba said:
On the surface, sure. But I'd be willing to bet the family was talked into filing suit by lawyers who took the case on contingency. We don't know that the family was proactive.
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Just because a lawyer asks me to file an idiotic lawsuit doesn't mean I have to. The family clearly saw an opportunity to profit from the death of a relative and jumped on it. No one ever wants to say "I guess he got unlucky," people always want a scapegoat. If that scapegoat can get me an early retirement, so much the better.
 
I was at this race. The lightning strike that killed that guy wasn't far from where we were parked. We were lined up to head out and had no idea any of this happened. I heard about it hours later on the way home on Sirius. I knew there was a close lightning strike but there were many others. When they stopped the race for rain, it was raining extremely hard. We were down pretty low to the track. A friend of mine who's a long time race fan and my son who was 10 at the time. It was his first race. I'm sure he'll remember it.

When it started raining we went up and stood under the upper grandstands. It kept us somewhat dry for awhile but it rained so hard for so long, it ran through the cracks with such volume eventually we were all three drenched to the skin so we couldn't get much wetter. My buddy had a smart phone but the linkup was poor to check the radar to see how long this was likely to last. All this time it's thunder and lightning like the end of the world. Bad.

As this is going on, the track announcer is repeatedly, I say repeatedly (I have no idea how many times, but many) urging everyone to head to their vehicles in the lots. We are all standing under metal bleachers. Not just us, but thousands of others. Now I know they claim a car is a pretty safe place to be in a thunderstorm. It's also a hike in torrential rain. I looked at my bud and he shrugged "You know, what do you do? You can sure as hell get hit by lightning out in the lot just as easy." The most prophetic thing I think I ever witnessed. By this time my kid is actually getting kinda scared. I said let's head out and wait and see what they do.

Not long after this, the rain slowed. We all looked like a sack of wet mice. No extra clothes but we did have a few towels and it was a warm enough day. We dried off and hung out till the delay was over and saw Gordon win the shortened affair. Then it was Act 2 with the rain heading out but we knew it was over and just headed out to hit the road home. Memorable day. Then when I heard about this poor guy dying I remember what my friend said...What, you can't get hit by lightning in the wide open fields with a million aluminum flag poles and a few isolated trees in the lot? What do you tell the fans if you're Pocono? If the bleachers get hit and dozens of people are injured, then what? What would happen if lightning hit the bleachers above your head and you were standing on the gravel below, not touching any metal? I don't know. I don't want to find out. But I always wondered what would have happened if this fella got killed during the delay instead of after the race because they were begging people to head for the parking lot during the delay. I wonder what the policy is now in the wake of this.
 
I just want to clarify something in case people forgot, because the article doesn't mention it. I'm too late to edit the above post...there was a weather delay first, then a restart, then they called it after halfway. When I'm talking about waiting and getting wet under the stands that was during the delay.
 
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