Cleburne resident Jennelle Carrillo, who sued the Dallas Cowboys after she sat on a hot bench and burned her butt, is gambling by requesting a jury trial.
Numerous versions of the story are published online, and comments are about 99 percent against the woman.
If those comments represent a jury of her peers, Carrillo might get laughed out of court.
I, on the other hand, see her point. A black marble bench sitting in the sun is going to get hotter than hell in Texas — so why put it out there for people to sit on? Installing the bench is tantamount to inviting someone to sit. Why would you invite someone to sit on a blazing hot slab of marble?
People are comparing this to another “frivolous” lawsuit — Stella Liebeck suing McDonald’s after spilling coffee in her lap and receiving third-degree burns. I don’t consider it frivolous. I saw a photo of Liebeck’s burns and they were bad. She required skin grafts and treatments. McDonald’s was serving coffee that was too hot to drink, and ignoring people who complained. Only the lawsuit changed the way McD’s served its coffee. (Wendy’s could learn a lesson as well — sometimes they serve chili so hot that it takes about 30 minutes to cool down enough to eat it.)
Obviously my sentiments are out of step with the internet crowd. Here is a sampling of anonymous comments:
“People nowadays sue for the stupidest things, she should sue the sun it was its fault for making the bench too hot.”
“I guess that she is a ‘Redskin’ Fan.”
“I wonder if this is one of those cases where the judge will have to issue a bench warrant?”
“Who is surprised everything there is hot? Satan owns the team. I suppose she can claim insanity. She thought it made sense to drive from Cleburne to watch the Cowboys practice.”
“I’m gonna sue her for straining my eyes because of reading the article.”
“Shouldn’t she be suing God? He’s the one who made it hot.”
With 99% against her, how can a jury trial be the logical choice?