Johnson To Sue Spotter (USC)

Off Topic
81

Very interesting . I advised someone doing behind the neck presses to use the available spotters on the floor.
His two buddies behind were just nattering. . Although if his grip did give way it would be difficult to prevent injury.

He seemed a bit pissed off though. Also when they tried to put the spotters , they are quite difficult to put on apparently.

I am not sure there stops at all on it. I will try and check next time.

BG what would the defence be as the Insurance Company (lack of disclosure about the final state of the Smith machine.) It suck big time that the machine is still at the gym.

82

[quote]decimation wrote:

BG what would the defence be as the Insurance Company (lack of disclosure about the final state of the Smith machine.) It suck big time that the machine is still at the gym.

[/quote]

The case was pretty complex, ultimately with elements of premise liability, product liability and ultimately, a bad faith claim against the insurer for the manufacturer who failed to respond to plaintiff’s offer to settle for its policy limits ($1m).

As to the gym, the liability was for permitting a dangerous piece of equipment in its facility. The gym has a duty to ensure that the premises, and equipment, are free from any defect or danger. I’m pretty sure that smith machine is no longer there, although they may not have immediately removed it after the loss itself. Gold’s position was that the machine was useful for people that wanted to do things like sldl from the floor, of all places! Okay.

As to the manufacturer, they manufactured a dangerous piece of equipment. This was basically an amateur effort by the owner of the company, with no engineering or ergonomic studies performed or any accredited expertise in the field. Truly amateur hour there.

As to the manufacturer’s insurance company, the plaintiff’s offered to settle the case against them for the relatively limited value of the policy - $1M. The insurance company did not accept the offer in the allotted time, thereby opening up some legal issues that allowed the plaintiff to seek a verdict in excess of their policy limits. This exposed the insurance company to a claim of bad faith, which explains the wrangling over that large verdict exceeding the $1m policy limit.

I got out relatively cheap, as evidenced by my $7.3 M settlement v. the verdict exceeding that amount.

I tried to put the above in “common speak” as much as possible, but it was a fairly complex claim.

83

I hope this doesnt cause a wave of “I dont wanna spot you”. People who are asked to spot and refuse are assface and deserve to be kicked out for the lack of gym savoir vivre. Beaten with a stick. Am I angry today

84

The only thing that will help the plaintiff in this case, if it did go to a trial, is that it is in Los Angeles. This alone is the ace up the sleeve if there ever was one. Remember, these are the same people who got O.J. off.

85

If he had used a regular grip yet the same thing happened, same situation (alleged incompetence and interference) would the suit have the same expected outcome?

86

[quote]Professor X wrote:
If it is less than 300lbs, I would be too embarrassed to sue.[/quote]

It was 275. He’s a big boy so you know he didn’t just get crushed by it. He is definitely over a 315 bencher. Probably closer to 405. My guess is suicide grip and it just slipped out of his hands when unracking it. Could also explain why it landed on his throat instead of his chest (where it would hit if he dropped it from the lowered position).

87

I’m glad that fellow you helped out bodyguard is doing so well. Good for him and not knuckling under to a devastating injury.

88

[quote]TheBodyGuard wrote:

[quote]MaximusB wrote:
If they get that strength coach to explain why he would use such a grip for a running back who never uses such a hand position in football, it could get interesting. [/quote]

I’m very curious about your drawing comparison to his alleged grip and any football crossover. I’ve always understood that the bench press was pretty meaningless in terms of transferring to football skills and mechanics on the field. Why such attention to his grip for you?

FWIW, as for the false grip, I think the accident could have just as easily occurred with a regular grip. We’ve seen enough of both that we can’t draw conclusions concerning the dangers of any particular grip. Sometimes the bar slips. Period. And that’s what spotters are for. [/quote]

True, many chain type of gyms have slippy bars. My kids live at their mom’s and come here every other weekend. My son comments how slippy the bars are at LA fitness. And yes, he is warned about safety, spotters, etc.

At my office I spot him and when he squats he uses chains on the monolift.

Once at my office we almost had a disaster. A local guy wanted to start lifting with us. He was to my visual assessment very neurologically bad. this guy had a hard time walking, was very weak, and just plain weird. So we figured we’d help him out.

This guy was weak, could hardly do a light movement correctly etc. I thought we would try to have him do some high board bench presses to try to get him to handle a weight under safe control. As I gave him a hand off with 135, he let the bar go. And he was told and shown and explained on how to do the lift, take the hand off, and return the bar to the rack.

I literally caught the bar inches from his throat. By catch, I mean catch.

Some people should stick to stamp collecting.

89

[quote]tom63 wrote:
I’m glad that fellow you helped out bodyguard is doing so well. Good for him and not knuckling under to a devastating injury.[/quote]

Well, I can’t claim any altruistic intent there at the time. Two opposing forces met with different opinions about an occurrence, resulting in a negotiated compromise. In other words, I was trying to pay the least amount of $$ possible, and they were trying to extract the most $$ possible. Both sides compromised based on their actual and perceived risk - the very dynamics of negotiation.

And put another way, I was a slave, doing the bidding on behalf of my evil master :slight_smile: In that mindset, I hated paying that case, for many of the reasons the dissent here hates the prospect of Johnson getting paid for this accident, and for some other technical legal issues.

It was only after much reflection and continued disenchantment with the business in general, that I arrived to the place where I am now - happy that he received adequate compensation.

90

[quote]tom63 wrote:

[quote]TheBodyGuard wrote:

[quote]MaximusB wrote:
If they get that strength coach to explain why he would use such a grip for a running back who never uses such a hand position in football, it could get interesting. [/quote]

I’m very curious about your drawing comparison to his alleged grip and any football crossover. I’ve always understood that the bench press was pretty meaningless in terms of transferring to football skills and mechanics on the field. Why such attention to his grip for you?

FWIW, as for the false grip, I think the accident could have just as easily occurred with a regular grip. We’ve seen enough of both that we can’t draw conclusions concerning the dangers of any particular grip. Sometimes the bar slips. Period. And that’s what spotters are for. [/quote]

True, many chain type of gyms have slippy bars. My kids live at their mom’s and come here every other weekend. My son comments how slippy the bars are at LA fitness. And yes, he is warned about safety, spotters, etc.

At my office I spot him and when he squats he uses chains on the monolift.

Once at my office we almost had a disaster. A local guy wanted to start lifting with us. He was to my visual assessment very neurologically bad. this guy had a hard time walking, was very weak, and just plain weird. So we figured we’d help him out.

This guy was weak, could hardly do a light movement correctly etc. I thought we would try to have him do some high board bench presses to try to get him to handle a weight under safe control. As I gave him a hand off with 135, he let the bar go. And he was told and shown and explained on how to do the lift, take the hand off, and return the bar to the rack.

I literally caught the bar inches from his throat. By catch, I mean catch.

Some people should stick to stamp collecting.[/quote]

“Hold on” - pun intended and unintended.

You assessed a guy as neurologically “bad”, as you witnessed him having a hard time even walking, and your perception was that he was very “weak”. And you thought it wise to have him not only bench press, but to bench press with 135lbs? And why in the world would you have him do “board presses”? Assuming a bench press is even appropriate, what’s wrong with starting with the bar? Y

ou’ve said you’ve been to Louie’s in Ohio - even they warm up with the bar. What was wrong with starting with the bar? How about just plain old push-ups for someone that you reasonably determined to be neurologically “bad” and “weak”? I’m really confused given that you’re a doctor of chiropractic.