In this morning's Star-Ledger, in the Sports Section at the bottom of page 65, is an advertisement by a lawfirm out of Roseland, NJ. The ad reads: ATTENTION: GIANTS/JETS FANS Have you seen drunk fans served alcohol at the stadium? If so, we need your help in a lawsuit in which a two year old girl was paralyzed by a drunk driver after he left the stadium. Somebody's going after Giants Stadium big-time for serving intoxicated fans. Hey, I'm no angel, but maybe it's about time the morons behind the counter started paying more attention to the drunks that can't seem to get wasted enough at the games. Either that of just cut it off at halftime. I can't criticize anyone, because I used to be one of those @ssholes, but times have changed and we all have to change with them. I'm tired of worrying about drunks alongside me when I pull out of the games. I'm sure there will be a lot of opinions on this...
Nothing against you personally Section 227, but this mentality really annoys me. "I had a lot of fun when I was young but, now that I'm older, I want to spoil that fun for today's younger people." Either way, I will use my limited law school knowledge to figure this out. First of all, if the little girl was at the game with a guardian, the suit will fail because there is a contract on every ticket where the team basically makes you waive any suit. Then there's the issue of cause. You can sue a bartender who serves a really drunk person who then goes out and runs someone over. But you have to be able to prove all this. You have to prove that this specific driver was showing visible signs of being too drunk and you also have to show he didn't have any additional drinks that he snuck in or in the parking lot after the game. In short, these cases don't succeed often but, in the interests of avoiding bad press, people could always get a nice settlement.
Cutting it off at halftime is not much good if people have been hitting it hard before the game. While I am a big fan of justice being done I am not sure that going after Giants stadium is the right thing honestly. People choose to drink and then they choose to drive. If serving beer is so evil, then why the hell is it available at all in that case? Why not sue the gov't for not banning it and making it illegal? The same can be said of tobacco companies as well, but that is a topic for a different thread. Obviously money is the big reason why it is legal. Therefore I would place personal responsibility above that of those serving.
Actually the girl wasn't at the game. A drunk Giants fan ran into her families car while returning home from the game. I thought it was all resolved already, but I guess not.... ---edit--- according to this they already paid out 60 million, not sure what this new lawsuit is. http://www.jointogether.org/news/headlines/inthenews/2005/60-million-award-in-giants.html
I think you've misconscrewed me on this, Kolber. I'm not looking to "spoil" anyone's "fun." I could give a rat's @ss how drunk anyone wants to get, just don't f*cking drive after you do it! We all did a lot of things decades ago that were accepted and done in the context of that day, but that didn't make it right. There's no place in today's world for drunk driving, period. Get loaded, yes. Drive, yes. But don't f*cking drink and drive. Now, as far as the lawsuit, I [personally don't think the personnel at Giants stadium are qualified to judge whether or not a person has had too much. I also think it's easy to "get around" any such policy that might subsequently be put in place that makes the server responsible. So, the question is, how do you stop drunk fans from driving out of the parking lot? I don't know, probably more state police presence, for one.
Man that's a damn shame. That's why no matter where I am, I always have a friend with me that would bite the bullet and play DD for the night.
It's an unfortunate situation, but it's what comes with having a stadium out in the middle of nowhere that you have to drive to. A free society is going to have its share of horrific accidents, but that's no reason to legislate ourselves into a nanny state. This is about an opportunistic law firm trying to make a buck and a headline. I think that's just as sickening as what happened to this poor little girl. More state police presence will probably stop people from going to games period. A DWI arrest with flashing lights would probably make congestion even more obscene than it is leaving the stadium. Probably the best idea would be to give all fans of legal drinking age some kind of drink ticket when they entered the stadium. Every time those fans went to get a beer the cashier could mark their ticket. Ticket would be limited to maybe three or four drinks per holder. I don't think this would be much more difficult than it would be to get a program. Maybe a swipe card would be easier? -X-
"I had a lot of fun when I was young but, now that I'm older, I want to spoil that fun for today's younger people." How does enforcing a rule that bartenders not serve alcohol to intoxicated fans spoil fun for young people?
Drinking and driving should be punished by summary execution when the person is pulled over. I've lost 2 close friends and an entire carfull of relatives to drunk drivers. BTW, for those thinking I'm being facetious or humorous in the above I'm not. I'd pull the trigger myself on a drunk driver who killed somebody in his reckless oblivion and lack of disregard for others and I'd do it with a clean conscience.
This is an awful thing that happened but I totally disagree that the owners of the stadium should be held responsible. People need to be held accountable for their own actions - it's a shame that we've gotten so far away from this as a society. The stadium should be held responsible for only serving people of legal age. It is not there job to determine whether or not someone is going to be irresponsible when they leave the stadium. Obviously this is all my opinion.
I'm sorry about your friends and relatives. You just said two different things. Do you want to kill drunk drivers that kill people, or just kill ALL drunk drivers when it is determined they are drunk. The Cardinals would be looking for a manager under your plan.
I don't know if more state police presence will stop people from going to games, but I think not. They're already putting up with escalated ticket prices and traffic congestion and it doesn't prevent the stadium from packing them in and selling out every seat. As far as flashing lights and visible DWI arrests, bring it on. I cannot tell you the last time I saw a state trooper pulling over someone and doing a DWI on them and I am talking about 20+ years. There seems to be some kind of "unwritten rule" that state troopers don't "harass" Jets/Giants fans when they leave the stadium. I certainly hope this isn't rue, but it seems that way. I for one wouldn't be upset at seeing a few "demonstrational" DWI arrests alongside Rte 3 and the TNPK, if for no other reason than to put drunks on notice that there's a crackdown in progress.
I don't know about your laws, but in the UK that would be unenforcable - for starters the bargain is concluded when the ticket is handed over and you can't create new terms thereafter, secondly if it were construed as included it would fall on account of the inequal bargaining position and/or unfair contract terms.
DWI needs to have more seious consequences........1st time should be like loss of license for 3 years, jail for a few months, and the fines should be a lot more.....You can't really blame the meadowlands because people are getting trashed at games everywhere no matter what, and the idiots are the ones that choose to drive and ruin it
You cannot predict which drunk driver you pull over is going to kill somebody two months down the road when he goes out and has some "fun" again. Shoot em all and let god sort em out. I'd describe how some of the people I loved died but it would create an image for you that would probably stay with you for the rest of your life and as angry as I can get about this issue I'm not going to do that to you. 16,000 people a year are killed in accidents involving a drunk driver. 10% of the drunk drivers involved in these fatalities have at least one DWI conviction and nearly a quarter have been cited for DUI or DWI previously. This is a predictable killer and the killer is not alcohol, it's the people who choose to drink and drive. As to the main issue, I think everybody who walks up to an alcohol serving venue in Giants stadium should have to blow into a tube and if the breathalyzer says they are approaching intoxication they should not be served.
I'm not diminishing your pain in any way....but it's a stupid plan. Lets say your kid was driving down the road one day and gets pulled over and executed because he blew a 1.1, then they find out the breathalizer malfunctioned.
Fine, build in an arrest and analysis system that guarantees due process before the execution. Within 6 months of doing this the incidence of drunk driving would be down 90% across America.
The sad part about crashes involving drunks is that 99% of the time, they're the ones surviving, and people like the little girl mentioned above perish. If the drunks were the only ones dying, maybe sooner or later that whole sub-species would exterminate itself. Eh, one can only hope, right?
Sorry this thread has brought this back for you, bud. The topic certainly generates interest though, and that's good. I was drunk as a f*cking skunk one night in 1986, coming back from partying at a place called Whirlitzer's out in Piscataway. I ran into a DWI checkpoint and I knew they had me... couldn't run around. The cops knew they had me too when they asked me a few questions and I slurred my words, but miraculously (and this happened back then because the law was still "young") they let me go. Well, I learned my lesson after that, big time. And since I had custody of my kids, I really gave it some thought and I just don't drive and drink anymore, period. Do I drink? Hell yeah... let's party man. And do I drive? Hell yeah. But I just don't drink and drive at the same time. It's really not that hard to comprehend or get used to.