The California Supreme Court has denied the appeal of Anthony Beninati, the Los Angeles real estate manager who unsuccessfully sued Burning Man organizers for failing to restrain him from walking into a fire.
Beninati's suit accused Black Rock City LLC, the San Francisco-based promoter, of negligently allowing people to approach the fire without safe pathways.Burning Man fire victim's suit goes up in smokeIn a June 30 ruling, the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco said anyone who takes part in an event with obvious dangers - downhill skiing, mountain climbing or walking up to a bonfire - knowingly risks injury.
"The risk of falling and being burned by the flames or hot ash was inherent, obvious and necessary to the event," the court said in a 3-0 decision that upheld a judge's dismissal of the suit.
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Astounding! Is it possible that there has actually been a sane ruling?
Play with fire and you're...going to file a lawsuit?
Sweet burn.
When morons go to BURNING MAN and get burned and blame the organizers, there is absolutely no possibility that humanity has ceased to be stupid, and we can all relax.
@WackyVorlon:
Most civil cases like this end in sensbible rulings, they just aren't the ones that tend to get the most press.
@Brainspore
Maybe that is the case, still, it's nice to see in print that there is a shred of sanity in the US legal system.
What an idiot this guy is...
I actually sort of envy this guy. Because I have not yet overcome the emotion of shame, the horizons of my behavior are necessarily limited. Where most of us might just have a drink in a dark bar after doing something ludicrously humiliating, this guy gets ready to take on the world.
"the expense of spirit in a waste of shame..." Not so for mr. Beninati. Keep at em B
Great to hear at least one frivolous lawsuit was tossed out. Scary fire at Burning Man? Ummm... duh!!!
Common Sense: 1
Random Idiot: 0
Now that's a final score I can appreciate.
Burning Man tickets have a nice couple of paragraphs on the back explaining that you are likely to get injured, maimed or killed by entering the premises and it's your problem, not theirs. Apparently, this guy didn't think that they really meant it.
Without people taking responsibility for their own actions, Burning Man would have to be constructed like Disneyland. That might take a bit of the fun out of it.
If one were to send Mr Beninate a gun, there's always the slight possibility, not to mention hope, that he might off himself accidentally given that he is clearly lacking in the interior-of-the-skull dept.
bwa hahahahahaha
Why on earth did this man walk into a fire? Once I got close and didn't notice. A week or so later I put the same pair of shoes on and realized they were burned. Yikes! Stupid me. I'm glad I have my nice feet still, but I don't think I would have sued over my drunken idiocy. What has to go on in a person's mind that they think to sue over crap like that? Sad. It would have set an awful precedent if he won.
thank god. this is one douchebag that BRC doesn't need.
should he sue the highway patrol for failing to keep him from driving into oncoming traffic?
should he sue McDonalds for failing to keep him from consuming 12 big macs?
people like this guy really need the smack down in a world where personal responsibility has taken a back seat to gainful litigation. personally, i can't believe this pussy made it through the first few days without suing BRC for failing to keep dust out of his eyes and for noise causing sleep deprivation.
the best part about burning man is there aren't people telling you what you cannot do (beyond some simple, ubiquitous, no-brainers)
there are no safety nets below the towers, there is no fence around The Man after the burn has concluded. there's no one telling you to get down from that dome or stop drinking whilst bicycling.
in a lot of ways, it's the closest thing we have to the sci fi concept of 'freedom parks'. it's the only place where communism and libertarianism collide, and actually, somehow, kind of work well in concert.
you fell in a fire, you're a fucking incompetent moron, a bit of freedom is obviously too much for you, so please, return to your nerf-padded lifestyle and leave the real fun to those of us who aren't legally retarded.
Wow, humungus fire makes earth extremely hot, who'd a thunk it. Just keep in mind that in prehistoric times he would be known as predator food by the rest of the clan and go by the name "Village Chromosomally Challenged Special Needs Case."
This reminds me that sick stand-up joke:
"People who die in fires - what's with them? Didn't they notice it was getting rather hot?"
Rimshot.
I'm just as happy as everyone else that the court ruled against him, but I'm troubled that there's no practical way to un-invite him from future Events In The Desert.
If admission to the party was something personal, something you could earn or un-earn by your behavior, the organizers wouldn't have to go through so much legal acrobatics to try to keep it going.
Since all you need to get past the gates is money, it's not *that* different from Disney.
@anansi133 Oh I daresay there will be people who recognize him who will make any future Events unpleasant for him.
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/11/11/burning-man-audio-tw.html
"We are not here to keep people from being stupid. Once they are stupid, we will pick up the pieces."
I have that on my MP3 player. I had it as a start up sound while doing computer support.
"It was a pleasure to burn."
is there no justice?
I'm just as happy as everyone else that the court ruled against him, but I'm troubled that there's no practical way to un-invite him from future Events In The Desert.
One of the ten principles of burning man is radical inclusion. It takes extreme circumstances to get someone un-invited. Even Paul Addis, the guy who lit the man on fire early in 2007, was allowed back into the event after posting bail.
That doesn't mean that people won't make your life unpleasant if they don't like you, but that the organizers won't prohibit you from being there by fiat. Well, I assume some people have been prohibited, but I also believe their numbers are relatively few.
Paul Addis is awesome. This guy is a giant douche.
You'd think that he could have put the fire out, then.
This time they burned the wrong man.
If evolution were efficient this guy would have fried his testicles instead of (or in addition to) his hands and legs.
Reminds me of the guy in Florida who got his c**k stuck in a pool vacuum and tried to sue the guy who called the ambulance for him because he laughed at him.
I'm surprised, and pleasantly too.
I thought the forces of control would spare no expense to make sure he got 110% of every dime BM had ever earned for his stupidity. (not counting the money put back into next year's festival)
It seems like the forces of control are trying to shut it down because they can't stand anyone having any true "Freedom" just freedom of which mall to spend your last dollars at. But BM is too public and to famous to just close down, like a "Rave Party" so they look for excuses. They tried "environmentalist" reasons, but the people racing jet cars do far more damage, not counting all the casual hikers and bodies dumped there, etc. Now they have tons of police and feds harassing people there looking for "Drug Busts" and IMHO trying to incite a riot to get an excuse to close it down.
So I'm surprised here, and hope it stays that way. Wonder if it'll get to the Supreme court?
Well DUH! The festival is called Burning Man, he was just trying to live up to the name! Can you blame him?
I sometimes get worried that they can find a judge willing to spend more than five minutes hearing these cases. It should have been four short phrases: "There was a bonfire. You walked into it. You got burned. Here endeth the lesson."