It was a sunny day last October when the Cadigan boys were taking a stroll in Menlo Park California, just minding their own business - or so it must have seemed to the untrained eye.
Suddenly a BMW driven by a man who reportedly thought he was in reverse gear jumps the curb, pinning the 6-year-old twins to a wall. The accident broke one boy's arm and put the other in the hospital for over a month with critical injuries. No one was killed, but bystanders reported the 90-year-old driver "literally could not stand" even though the airbag had not deployed.
In the resulting court filing, serious allegations are made according to news reports - the plaintiffs
"carelessly, recklessly and negligently conducted and maintained themselves"...in a way that contributed to the accident. What's more,
"knowing the probable consequences thereof, (they) voluntarily participated in all the activities"...and thus assumed any related risks. Worst of all, they failed to reasonably mitigate any damages sustained. Sounds like there'll be no holds barred when this comes to trial, eh?
Longtime readers of this blog will have guessed by now that it's of course the driver - who happens to be a retired attorney - accusing the children of these dirty deeds.
Let this tragedy serve as an object lesson to warn all those who may pooh-pooh the risks of operating a motor vehicle in the vicinity of negligent children who may, suddenly and with malice aforethought, stroll peacefully along a sidewalk voluntarily in front of your out-of-control SUV.
And if the worst happens, and they get in the way of your headlong journey towards a brick wall, you'll just have to pray they don't make things worse by failing to mitigate the damages! Whatever that means!
Unless, of course, you're a feebleminded old bastard of a lawyer whose dried-up husk of human decency was long ago sold to make way for a mountainous fist of chutzpah that makes Burj Dubai look like an anthill. In that case, you'll get away with a traffic ticket.
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