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Went down on a watermelon...

83K views 535 replies 172 participants last post by  Elbato 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
So here's my dilemna- I was doing about 5 mph when I rode over a watermelon that had been smashed on the road and run over a few times in front of JC penny's. Now here's the issue...it was 7pm and the watermelon was flat on the pavement, I couldn't even see it and it had been there for about a day because the previous day I had seen where someone had thrown it down because it was in large clumps at the time.... The bike's not bad but the left side has been thrashed the front axle is bent a little bit, the swingarm is scrathed and bent where the rear peg is and the gas tank has a small ding in it....I went home after and called the police after I got the manager's name and told her about the accident but the police could have cared less and didn't even show up... So I went back to the scene today and took pictures and luckily even though i informed the management at JC penny's the watermellon bits were still there so i'm hoping I can take them to small claims court for diligence...anyone out there a lawyer...is this an available option.

Oh...and I just put my half termiginoni system on about 4 hours prior and it sounded great....life sucks..

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#3 ·
rjahr01 said:
it was 7pm and the watermelon was flat on the pavement, I couldn't even see it
That and this
rjahr01 said:
and it had been there for about a day because the previous day I had seen where someone had thrown it down because it was in large clumps at the time....
just does not compute.

rjahr01 said:
luckily even though i informed the management at JC penny's the watermellon bits were still there so i'm hoping I can take them to small claims court for diligence
Well, it's the good ol' USofA, so of COURSE suing someone else for your own negligence is always an option.

Solution to this is to not ride faster than/where you can't see, especially when you're riding in an area where you'd previously noticed something in the roadway.
 
#4 ·
Buckelew said:
sorry, I thought you had a sexual fixation with produce......I wondered how someone could open their mouths far enough for that....
That was pretty funny. :D

In reference to the above question, the police probably would have showed up (eventually); however, if the lot is private, they may not have taken a report.

If you want to take the owners of the parking lot (possibly JC Penny's) to court for diligence_legal carefulness_ then you may not have a strong case.

You wrote that the melon was barely visible. You would have to admit under oath that you could barely see the melon.

If you wish to take them to court for negligence, then you would have to prove the harm to your bike was as the result of failing to provide a proper or reasonable level of care.

Here is what the judge could ask:

If the melon was barely visible, then how did you expect the owners to see it and clean it up properly?

Why was it not your lack of skills, judgment, impairment or the condition of your tires that caused the fall?

In a court of law, it is not about who was right and who was wrong. Sadly, it is not even about 'truth' or fact. It's what you can prove.

*On Edit: Where do I send my bill?
 
#5 ·
I'll have pics tommorow of the area.... i've also got a piece of the melon at my house and you can see how in the middle of the day you could see it and at times of the day either early morning or later on at night it would not be very visible.... I know from my own business that I am responsible for my property and if someone is injured due to my negligence I have to pay. What I am referencing too is even though I told the management at Jc Penny a day later that area still has not been cleaned up.... it's the same as if their was an oil spill in that area and two days later it was still there and you went down on it..... I wouldn't sue anyone, as the manager of a small business I understand safety and know my boundaries.... And parking lot maintenance can be a negligent factor in a lawsuit when you have a public place of business....
 
#6 ·
I agree with the above. You "knew it was there" once but "didn't see it" another time... Hmm... Your problem 100%, ESPECIALLY since you had noticed the thing the night before. If you slip in an oil puddle on the road "that you did not see" are you going to sue the city, county, or state or even if the oil were in a parking lot? Besides, I have never seen a pitch black parking lot... Give me a break. You screwed up. Period. Fix your bike...
 
#7 ·
Sure, sue JC Penny's. Sue the city. Sue the state. Hell, just sue the Feds. Someone has to pay, just not you.

You knew it was there, you rode over top of it, you fell down. Where in the story does it say anyone else was at fault.

People wonder why the justice system is so screwed up. Jeez. :rolleyes:
 
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#8 ·
Are you seriously considering taking them to court?? This has got to be a joke!
If you are serious..... this is just my opinion but I TRUELY believe that it is people like you that are tearing America apart at the seems, and I would hope that before following through with this you would step back and look at the presedent you would be setting. How would you feel if a kid wrecked his bike in front of your house, and then his parents sued you for his medical bills. Why stop there.... maybe they should sue for damage to his pcyche as well. Or maybe he was going to be the next big thing on a bicycle at the x-games maybe they should sue for his lost wages as well.
It all sounds good to sue the big company that can afford a parking lot, but when you do thing like you might as well be sueing everyone that goes to JC Pennys
 
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#9 ·
Are you guys kidding me.... If you hit a pothole and it bent your wheel wouldn't you expect the transportation cabinet to cover the cost, you pay into the government for your roads to be maintained. Companies have to have business insurance in case of accidents on their properties which is why most business try to maintain a safe environment. If at my work their was a known problem and someone was later injured at it I know OSHA would be all over me because I was negligent for not correcting the issue.

This is what I know... it is an ashphalt parking lot and at 7 PM the outerside of the watermelon matched the parking lost close enough where I could not see it. I was not going fast...and no I didn't even think of the watermelon from when I had priorly seen it, but I do have a good memory and recalled it later. We will see....
 
#122 ·
If it was a banana peel then you could def get tons of cash but since it was a watermelon... your fuked. Thats the caveat in my state at least.
 
#10 ·
rjahr01 said:
Are you guys kidding me.... If you hit a pothole and it bent your wheel wouldn't you expect the transportation cabinet to cover the cost
No, I'd dodge the pothole. If I was unable to dodge the pothole it would be due to my own error in judgement.

rjahr01 said:
you pay into the government for your roads to be maintained. Companies have to have business insurance in case of accidents on their properties which is why most business try to maintain a safe environment. If at my work their was a known problem and someone was later injured at it I know OSHA would be all over me because I was negligent for not correcting the issue.
Huge difference between a small piece of refuse and negligence.

Shit falls on the roads, it happens, look far enough ahead to avoid it, and as far as:
rjhar01 said:
This is what I know... it is an ashphalt parking lot and at 7 PM the outerside of the watermelon matched the parking lost close enough where I could not see it. I was not going fast...and no I didn't even think of the watermelon from when I had priorly seen it, but I do have a good memory and recalled it later. We will see....
This is just abuse of the system, plain and simple.

People like you are the problem, accept your own responsibility (fat chance of course) and fix your bike yourself.

Pay more attention, especially when you've already seen there's an issue in an area you're passing BACK through.

Just for giggles, I'm of a mind to go ahead and forward this to their legal dept.
 
#11 ·
rjahr01 said:
Are you guys kidding me.... If you hit a pothole and it bent your wheel wouldn't you expect the transportation cabinet to cover the cost, you pay into the government for your roads to be maintained.
You aren't from around here are you? Neither the government, nor private enterprise, is responsible for your bad judgment (or luck). We pay our taxes to build and maintain the road system, not to pay off every time somebody has a bad day.

Just own up to the fact that you really were at fault, fix your ride, and drive on.
 
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#12 ·
ok so let me get this straight, if you were rounding a corner at the proper speed and new construction caused gravel to come out past the centerline due to a new subdivision being created and you slid your bike out due to the gravel you would not blame the construction crew for not cleaning the road. Wow... you guys have more money then brains it seems like.... I am a republican and believe not to ride the system, but at the same time the system is responsible for it's area where it profits.

Negligence ~ the failure to exercise that degree of care that, in the circumstances, the law requires for the protection of other persons or those interests of other persons that may be injuriously affected by the want of such care.
 
#13 ·
This is clearly the fault of Ducati AND Michelin for not properly warning you/us that the bike/tires could become unstable and therfore dangerous to the rider when passing over dayold crushed watermellon, particulairly in a shopping mall where the Ducati's are known to perform well under normal condidtions. :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:


On the otherhand maybe the salesman who sold you the bike should be shot??
He clearly has put society in a state of danger by allowing you on the public highway system on a Ducati.
 
#14 ·
Consider something else. A judge, or if you take it far enough a jury, is going to assign responsibility in a personal damages case like this. If you go before one or the other and say "Well I saw this debris the night before, but I assumed it had been cleaned up so I rode through the area again and managed to fall.", the legal system MAY find J.C. Penny at fault, but they are likely to assign a certain amount of responsibility to you as well. And once the level of liability reaches 50% for you, (I'm not talking value of damages here) then you get nothing. Well, you get less than nothing because you have to pay lawyer fees, and the court may make you pay court fees, as well. I just went through a personal injury suit in Tenn. and damn near came up empty handed because the judge ruled it was partially my fault for not yielding R.O.W. to the oncoming 18-wheeler that crossed over into my lane. Don't tie up the system with this. Call your insurance, fix your bike, maybe J.C. Penny will throw you a bone but don't hold your breath.
 
#15 ·
can anyone say..."hypocrisy"

That's pretty un-republican of you to state your claim. Now you're sounding like the mistaken description of a democrat (i.e., blame someone else for your misfortune). Get over it or better yet, turn it in to your insurance company.
 
#16 ·
I think this is great... so you guys are also then telling me that if a girl was raped in a dark alley it's not the fault of the city for having street lights... You know the other day I was driving in a new subdivision and a crew was moving tires across the street so that their crane could cross over the road and onto the other lot and after the crane moved across the supervisor had his men sweep the road clear of dirt and thick gravel debris because he knew that had I road through there and fell because of large gravel stones then he would be negligent. I think you guys have lost your mind...
 
#164 ·
If I was the judge, I would send you back to riding school. And tell you your lucky it was not a banana.. or you might have needed to be airlifted out.

Just admit it, you goosed the throttle trying to get a burnout going and lost it.

Seriously though, stop riding. What will happen when it rains?

You sue them they will go to the tapes and show your wrist doing something stupid.
 
#19 ·
rjahr01 said:
I think this is great... so you guys are also then telling me that if a girl was raped in a dark alley it's not the fault of the city for having street lights...
Let's just go ahead and invoke Godwin's law and state that the Holocaust wasn't the fault of the Nazis, the Jews should have gotten out of an area known to be dangerous for them. amirite?

Edit: I'm just going to go ahead and say that attempting to use this kind of logic makes you an idiot.

rjahr01 said:
You know the other day I was driving in a new subdivision and a crew was moving tires across the street so that their crane could cross over the road and onto the other lot and after the crane moved across the supervisor had his men sweep the road clear of dirt and thick gravel debris because he knew that had I road through there and fell because of large gravel stones then he would be negligent. I think you guys have lost your mind...
There's a difference between an incidental hazard and one created by negligence.

You're bound and determined to sue someone over this (gotta love it) so you should probably be aware in your quest for good ol' 'mericun justice that the retail outlet there very likely doesn't own the property in question and your 'warning' to them fell on deaf ears because (again, likely) they had no responsibility for upkeep of the grounds there.

Also, please stop trying to paint everyone with the same irresponsible paintbrush. Most of us are mature enough to take responsibility for ourselves, we're not ALL looking for an 'out' by blaming someone else.
 
#20 ·
:think:
rjahr01 said:
Now here's the issue...it was 7pm and the watermelon was flat on the pavement, I couldn't even see it and it had been there for about a day because the previous day I had seen where someone had thrown it down because it was in large clumps at the time....
Apologies for the bad pun. But
Dude! You admit seeing it the day before, and you still want to blame Jaque Penne.
Instead of suing JC, I suggest you have a better suit against your helmet manufacturer. Perhaps the improperly made helmet caused a poor fit condition which caused you to lose your memory.
Or sue your parents for not giving you a sense of personal responsibilty for your own actions.

And please never compare going down on a watermelon (suppressed laugh) with a woman being raped. Ludicrous and highly insensitive.
 
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#22 ·
just to make it clear, I was not show boating...I was simply going 5 mph, I will have pictures...and I know that they don't own the property but they do most likely carry insurance on the property. All buildings being leased must have insurance on the building and their grounds. And most places that lease mandate that the company leasing has taken over all liability.
 
#23 ·
rjahr01 said:
I think this is great... so you guys are also then telling me that if a girl was raped in a dark alley it's not the fault of the city for having street lights... You know the other day I was driving in a new subdivision and a crew was moving tires across the street so that their crane could cross over the road and onto the other lot and after the crane moved across the supervisor had his men sweep the road clear of dirt and thick gravel debris because he knew that had I road through there and fell because of large gravel stones then he would be negligent. I think you guys have lost your mind...

Are you the guy that has those $3000.00 dollar Buy-It-Now Ducati's on Ebay?
 
#24 ·
rjahr01 said:
just to make it clear, I was not show boating...I was simply going 5 mph, I will have pictures...and I know that they don't own the property but they do most likely carry insurance on the property. All buildings being leased must have insurance on the building and their grounds. And most places that lease mandate that the company leasing has taken over all liability.
Wow.

Sounds like you've put a LOT of thought into your plan.

Edit: Go ahead and report me now, nothing you can say is going to make me take a parody thread seriously.
 
#25 ·
rjahr01 said:
just to make it clear, I was not show boating...I was simply going 5 mph, I will have pictures...and I know that they don't own the property but they do most likely carry insurance on the property. All buildings being leased must have insurance on the building and their grounds. And most places that lease mandate that the company leasing has taken over all liability.
How big of an idiot do you have to be to go 5mph and dump the bike on a patch of watermelon? At 5mph you should have been able to SEE the watermelon splotch on the ground and avoid it, stop, slow down, peddle foot across it, or whatever else.

Its times like these where I wish states would enact laws to make people pay all court costs and defense costs when they bring upon friv lawsuits.
 
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