Wave Maker: When Sorry Isn't Enough

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Tuesday, March 08, 2005

When Sorry Isn't Enough

From the Boston Globe story about an unfortunate incident in which a dog was electrocuted by a short circuited lamp post:

"The family of Cassius, the dog killed by leaking electricity from an old NStar Electric lamppost site, said last night it had turned down an unspecified offer of "comfort money" from NStar and is demanding $740,000 from the utility or it will sue. The family said it picked the dollar figure because it equals NStar chief executive Thomas J. May's annual salary. Paul and Dee Dee DeVito of Allston, whose 13-year-old son Kyle was walking Cassius on Western Avenue when the dog was electrocuted last Tuesday, said they had initially demanded $1.4 million, the size of May's most recent annual bonus. The DeVitos agreed to seek the lower figure after NStar balked. 'We didn't want the DeVito family to appear greedy,' their lawyer, John G. Swomley, said at a packed press conference last evening where the family disclosed its $740,000 demand."

Noooooo, we certainly don't want them to appear greedy!

The just wanted to "send a message," as plaintiff trial lawyers (including Attorney Swomley) are always imploring juries to do -- in t.v. movies and real courtrooms.

Send a message. They picked a figure because it was equal to the CEO's annual pay. Nothing to do with the value of their beloved pet, or compensating them for their grief. A nice "poetic" figure, as Swomley further explained.

Now I like poetry, but this doesn't even rise to the level of an obscene limerick.

Here's what I think:

Life isn't always fair. Bad things happen. Sometimes they're the result of someone's "fault." Not always, but sometimes. But NStar has, oh, a couple thousand miles of power lines to maintain, and I don't think we can hold them to the impossible standard of ensuring that no accident will ever occur. If we do, I'm going to end up using candle light, because electric rates are not going to be hospitable to my budget.

People have to stop blaming every unfortunate event on someone -- even the Big Bad Utility. Get up off the ground, dust yourself off, thank God you're okay, and move on.

There's too many Attorney Swomleys in this world.

Posted by: Wave Maker / 5:50 PM/ |