From: Jim Stead (gadget@easypath.com)
Date: Wed Oct 06 2004 - 20:55:08 PDT
Good point. I would defend myself as vigorously as I could. But......
It's far easier to *scare* people than it is to *inform* people.
The judge has a calendar of crap to get through, and any jury doesn't
want to be there to begin with.
The easy way out for judge or jury wins, usually. A slick attorney,
working for an insurance company and well practiced in the art of visual and
horrifying language can turn your supposed best efforts for safety into the
actions of the devil himself. Your attorney must be just as experienced the
other way to even counter the guy. I have an idea about how much money
Allstate has for that game...how much do you have?
I think that if you're going to do anything like this, you need to
DOCUMENT the reasons why. Copy all your reference materials, examples of
systems by other manufacturers, all your calculations, and every name of
every "expert" that told you something. You need to prove, beyond the shadow
of a doubt, that any reasonable person would have come to the same
conclusions as you did, and that you made these modifications utilizing your
documentable mechanical and vehicular engineering skills with the intent to
enhance safety for you, your passengers, and everyone on the road.
If you're Mr. Backyard Wrench, like me, I don't think you stand chance
#1 in a courtroom. Then again, that's just my humble opinion.:-) If I was
the kind of guy that worried about the worst-case scenario and lawsuits,
etc...I definitely would not do something like this! As it turns out, I
don't worry about the unknown, the unforeseeable, and the unpredictable too
much.....please post any info or progress with these kinds of mods. I'm
interested in doing the same!
Jim
> Couldn't one argue that the addition of air brakes, or a new, modern
master
> cylinder, or power steering, or a new reliable Cat engine, are
modifications
> that ENHANCE the safety of the vehicle rather than detract from it? apb
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat May 07 2005 - 20:36:49 PDT