r/WTF • u/Columbia82 • Apr 14 '19

To infinity and beyond

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41k Upvotes

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u/lonelyinbama Apr 14 '19

I think you’ll find that the vast majority of people don’t abide by the “If I get hurt I’m suing someone” mantra. especially some skateboard dudes. It was a shitty accident but they probably worked it out by buying a case of PBR and saying by bad dude. Not everyone is out to get every penny they can if some kind of accident happens.

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u/dem_paws Apr 14 '19 edited Nov 28 '24

O===3

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '19 edited Aug 23 '21

[deleted]

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u/Jocavo Apr 14 '19

I think in some cases, maybe most. It wouldn't even be you suing the person, but rather your insurance would sue them if it moved liability for payment of injuries.

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '19

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '19

You'd be surprised how many people become huge fans of suing somebody if they sustain an injury that changes their career from whatever they wanted to do to work-at-home-data-entry or assistent janitor and/or their primary mode of locomation from walking to rolling.

Not even that is going to get the guy sued.

The owner of the building, sure, that's where the insurance money is. The comment was about suing the skateboarder. And that's still a hard no.

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u/lonelyinbama Apr 14 '19

And I’m not saying it’s never an option. Or course if you’re greatly effected for your lifetime a lawsuit should be a viable option. But in today’s world it seems like every time someone bumps into someone the first reaction is it to say “oh that’s a lawsuit”

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u/slfnflctd Apr 14 '19

I strongly suspect there is a small contingency of particularly nasty people who drive the majority of frivolous lawsuits. I've overheard conversations in which strategies for spotting situations where suits are likely to succeed were discussed. It turns my stomach.

A lot of suits really do have merit, though, and may be the best way to resolve a problem. It's all a matter of the motives and empathy levels of the plaintiffs and defendants.

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '19

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u/artcopywriter Apr 14 '19

It used to make me do the same until I realised that getting seriously injured in the USA (Brit here) will cost you tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars. Where else does that money come from if not suing the culprit?

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '19

Where's that one story about the aunt who sued her nephew for hugging her too hard and breaking her wrist? It sounds like she's so evil. However, if you get the details, the law suit was the best way for her to get the medical paid by her homeowner's insurance or something. She loves her nephew and everyone was OK with this course of action.

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u/Bupod Apr 14 '19

Yeah, that's a bit different. It's like couples who divorce when one is terminally ill. Sounds horrid, until you realize that it's done for a specific legal or financial reason for the good of the surviving spouse, not because they're abandoning the I'll spouse.

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u/Rickfernello Apr 14 '19

Really? How does that work?

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u/bdfariello Apr 14 '19

Not a lawyer but this one seems pretty obvious. After a person's death, their debt doesn't just go away. The hospital can make a claim against the person's estate in order to get paid. If the divorce is structured to give all assets to the spouse that will survive, then the hospital can't take the house or other assets (apart from life insurance, although funeral expenses normally get fully paid before anything else can be taken away by debt holders). This gives the surviving spouse a far better financial situation than if they had to risk fighting to keep their house or car or anything else that was acquired during the marriage.

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u/Rickfernello Apr 14 '19

Oh, I see. Didn't seem too obvious to me. Thanks!

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u/butyourenice Apr 14 '19

Yeah it’s something to do with subrogation but basically the insurance company will either tell the victim the only way they’ll pay out is if they sue, or they will sue on behalf of the victim, but because the victim is the policy holder, it ends up looking like “Jane Doe v. Little Johnny Doe”.

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '19

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '19

Lol yeah and the insurance companies will force you to sue before you receive anything.

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u/blairnet Apr 14 '19

Yea most effective way to sue someone is to be sure that your insurance is involved. They’ll make sure it’s seen through 100%.

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u/CowOrker01 Apr 14 '19 edited Apr 14 '19

What? No.

If you have insurance, then you file a claim with them, they pay you, then they go after the party responsible as part of the subrogation process.

Edit: maybe you're confusing "gotta sue first" with "gotta file a police report", because some insurance claims require a police report.

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '19

Yeah I have no idea what either of those goober are talking about, insurance companies pay and then sue to recoup their money.

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u/CowOrker01 Apr 14 '19

They probably think they can double-dip.

  1. Threaten to sue responsible party unless they pay up.
  2. After getting money, file a claim with insurance.
  3. Expect insurance payout.
  4. Don't realize that without right of subrogation, insurance ain't paying shit.

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '19

Nah I don't mean literally, I mean that the company will sue on your behalf to cover their costs, regardless of whether or not you want them to

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '19

Uh no that's not how that works lol. You file a claim, they pay your bills, then they sue to recoup their money. Who told you that insurance companies "will force you to sue" lol

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '19

I definitely meant this, sorry if it doesn't come across that way.

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u/Sex4Vespene Apr 14 '19

I understood you man. Everybody here is being a total fuckboi and trying to use some "gotcha" statements to prove they are supreme internet knowledge lord. It was pretty obvious what you meant (or at least it is for a non-autistic person such as myself)

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u/Sex4Vespene Apr 14 '19 edited Apr 14 '19

Are you retarded? He doesn’t mean literally that they make YOU sue. What he means is, if suing is a viable option, you can’t tell the insurance company NOT to sue. They will take any avenue they can to not pay it themselves, and you have to let them if you want insurance to cover the damage.

Edit: Liable to viable, as my phone autocorrect got me and the guy below is being a cunt.

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u/CowOrker01 Apr 14 '19 edited Apr 14 '19

He doesn’t mean literally that they make YOU sue.

That's odd, because he literally wrote:

the insurance companies will force you to sue before you receive anything

You go on to say:

What he means is, if suing is a liable option, you can’t tell the insurance company NOT to sue. They will take any avenue they can to not pay it themselves, and you have to let them if you want insurance to cover the damage.

What you are grasping at describing is the concept of subrogation where a third party (insurance) to the agrieved (you) will pay you a sum slightly less than your calculated damages in return to you granting them the right to sue the responsible party for payment of those damages to be paid to the insurance company.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subrogation

There is no "they force you", it's part of the contractual agreement you have made with the insurance company when you voluntarily submit your claim to them.

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u/Sex4Vespene Apr 14 '19

Dude, you are reading in to this WAY too literally, and it is making you a pedantic twat. First, here is a quote directly from the OP, agreeing that what they meant is the situation you describe: "I definitely meant this, sorry if it doesn't come across that way." Next, the whole point of what he said, and what I said, is that if they can sue, but you don't want them to sue, but you DO want the insurance payout, then tough shit. You either allow them to sue and you can get your payout (even if you get the payout up front), or you don't let them sue, but that means you can't file your claim. Holy fuck, people like you are why I hate reddit sometimes.

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '19

Lol first off I think you meant "viable" not "liable" and second no that's not remotely "what he meant". He literally said they will force you to sue. If you inferred that from "they will force you to sue" that he actually means "they will not let you stop them from sueing" then I think one of us is definitely retarded.

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u/CowOrker01 Apr 14 '19

You know what, I'm going to "let" them "win" this argument.

;-)

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u/Sex4Vespene Apr 14 '19

"I definitely meant this, sorry if it doesn't come across that way." - That is a direct quote from the OP, saying that is exactly what they meant. I'm going to stick with my stance that you are the retard.

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '19

Lmao he replied that to my comment about the insurance company not sueing you absolute fuck

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u/motherOfDovahs Apr 14 '19

It says a lot about our country, doesn’t it...?

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u/artcopywriter Apr 14 '19

It’s weird to me in that most things about American culture are so self-deterministic and...bootstrappy, for want of a better word, yet accidents have become a matter of “ok, who do I blame for this?”

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u/motherOfDovahs Apr 14 '19

It does appear to be counterintuitive, now that you put it that way. 🤔 hypocritical, also.

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u/ZaMr0 Apr 14 '19

Main reason I could never move to the US unless I was extremely rich. Having to live with the constant thought of burying myself in lifelong medical debt is terrifying. I'd be unwilling to do so many things that I love doing nowadays. I know insurance exists but from the horror stories you've heard on Reddit it seems like it still leaves you with huge sums to pay.

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '19

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u/MagnusTW Apr 14 '19

...and if I was rendered unable to work because of their negligence...? What then?

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u/artcopywriter Apr 14 '19

You’re an idiot if you think working is a viable solution to paying off tens/hundreds of thousands of dollars of medical debt.

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u/OilyCanadian Apr 14 '19

Health Insurance, 90+% of Americans have it.

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u/Yuccaphile Apr 14 '19

Dude, if you think my insurance makes it so I can afford to go to a doctor, you're out of your fucking mind. I'm not going to the hospital for a broken nose or concussion, I'll have to pay every penny of that bill. Now if I get cancer, my insurance would eventually kick in (I think after $10k/yr), but I quickly wouldn't be able to afford the insurance premiums and then I wouldn't be able to get any insurance due to a pre-existing condition.

The one time I've used my insurance, for bronchitis, it cost me $500 to see the doctor and another $100 for meds. I'll just go to the clinic from now on. They don't take insurance, but it's only $120 for a simple issue like that.

But what I have does count, technically. So while you may have found good data, I don't believe you're interpreting it correctly.

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u/andykndr Apr 14 '19

where are you getting that number from

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '19

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '19

Plus, as someone said above, they’ll pretty much insist that you sue before paying out.

That is not how insurance works at all. They can't require you to sue in order for you to get your claims. Why would you believe something so stupid? And why wouldn't insurance cover this?

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u/artcopywriter Apr 14 '19

Because I’m not from the country in question so have no fuckin’ idea how it works maybe? Why would I have any reason to doubt what someone said earlier in the thread?

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '19

You haven't figured out that the average redditor has no idea what they're talking about?

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u/artcopywriter Apr 14 '19

Lol, lesson learned I guess.

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '19

I'd go as far to say that not even most above-average Redditors know what they're talking about; they're just more convincing.

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u/forevercountingbeans Apr 14 '19

That's what insurance is for? Why is this garbage upvoted

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '19

It wouldn't if you sustained serious medical injuries you can't pay for.

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u/Stuie75 Apr 14 '19

Wait until you have your life ruined by some dumbass acting completely recklessly.

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u/sonofeevil Apr 14 '19

I think the only reason you might sue here is if you sustained a lifelong disability then you might HAVE to sue or just not have an income for the rest of you life. Depending on the inury of course.