Jury awards $157M in tree stand death


hunter1963

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  stevebeilgard said:
that's a jury wanting to put the hunting business out of business. i hate big jury awards. our nation is falling apart because of the lack of tort reform.

I dont know about that! The lady lost her husband How could you ever put a price on that. I think the treestand company should be made responsible for a faulty stand!

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Steve's right Mirage. Even the woman's attorney didn't understand where the jury came up with the $157 million figure. The bottom line is now she will never see much money from Ol Man treestands. They will file bankruptcy and go out of business. That's what the jury wanted.

Something sure sounds fishy about the legal notices sent to a retired attorney that used to represent L&L Enterprises though.

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  Gator said:
My question is why didn't the treestand manufacturer have a lawyer there??

Wondering the same thing.

Some of those names kind of sound familiar, we dealt with an attorney here by the last name Gunn when we were dealing with temporary protective custody of my wifes little brother, but think his name was Harold Gunn. Simonton is a name we know as well, wonder if there is a relation to the Simonton's in the nursing home/pharmacy business in this area?

  Rhino said:
Steve's right Mirage. Even the woman's attorney didn't understand where the jury came up with the $157 million figure. The bottom line is now she will never see much money from Ol Man treestands. They will file bankruptcy and go out of business. That's what the jury wanted.

Something sure sounds fishy about the legal notices sent to a retired attorney that used to represent L&L Enterprises though.

Sure does sounds fishy, and I also agree with Al about them putting this company out of business with this sum.

Really sad for anyone to lose their life and I agree that if the stand was faulty that she should be awarded an amount, the 1.5 million seemed a fair amount, do not understand the reason for the excessive amount other than sheer greed. How much do lawyer fees and court costs cost anyway, surely not 155 million dollars.:eek::(:(:confused:

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That is a insane amount of dough. I know no price can be put on a human life, but being that the man was found dead...alone. How can it be known if the user was not at fault?

We all know people who have had close calls with climbers. Some right on this board too. The loss of any life is tragic and I just think that some juries are out of control.

I did not know Oleman treestands were made in China.

We own and use Summits here for these reasons.

They are made here, by Americans just like us; and I found them to be the most secure of the climbers I looked at before purchasing.

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Yeah, that article was crap. My uncle owned and managed Blackwater Creek Treestands for years here in MS. He had to sell it, or send it to china because the chinese were sending completed units here for less than he had in material. I doubt this lady will ever see much of that money. How do they justify this? I am positive that ole man is a member of TMA (treestand mfg of america) and i feel quite sure that they either supply or specify in their documents that a requirement to use a full body harness. How does one get hung from a tree and die? I'm sorry but i got a problem with this, and need more details. No you cant put a price on human life, but offer my wife 175M for my sorry butt and see if i dont get hung in a treestand! :eek::p

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"Carol Simonton filed the civil tort in February 2006, about four months after her husband, Timothy Simonton, was found hanged to death in Parke County"

Hanged to death????

this is the part that really gets me confused:confused::confused::confused:

there are normally two outcomes of falling from a tree..

1.) you fall and hit the ground

or

2.) you are saved by your gear

how is this a suit against a tree stand manufacterer when his death was caused by being hung???

i think there is a pile of info not being released, or the investigation was F.U.B.A.R'd...:eek:

very sad, but very fishy as well...

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  layin on the smackdown said:
"Carol Simonton filed the civil tort in February 2006, about four months after her husband, Timothy Simonton, was found hanged to death in Parke County"

Hanged to death????

this is the part that really gets me confused:confused::confused::confused:

there are normally two outcomes of falling from a tree..

1.) you fall and hit the ground

or

2.) you are saved by your gear

how is this a suit against a tree stand manufacterer when his death was caused by being hung???

Trestand failed supposedly. Apparently there may have been a recall on the stand for pins that did not stay in. As far as being hanged to death, that is a possibility. I know when climbing I have had my rope that goes to my prussik knot fall over my shoulder and the slack fall down around my neck. We all know we can get in awkward positions using climbers. Sounds like that may have been the case with this unfortunate accident, but who knows?????

  Rhino said:
This is the part that really confuses me. :confused:

Tim Carley of Hattiesburg, Miss., who was listed as a registered agent for L & L Enterprises on the online court system, said he was unaware that the company had been sued and hadn't been involved with the company for about a year.

Yeah I agree, that makes no sense at all Al. Someone with the company really dropped the ball there. Of course sometimes screwy stuff can happen with lawsuits, maybe they were never properlly notified.

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  layin on the smackdown said:
i have never even seen an ad for an ole man tree stand climber...is that what he was using, a climber?...i thought they (ole man) only made ladder stands and hang on stands...

Pretty sure that they did make climbers up until fairly recently.

Here is a link to the safety recall http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml07/07233.html

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  wtnhunt said:
Of course sometimes screwy stuff can happen with lawsuits, maybe they were never properlly notified.

One of the reasons for states requiring a registered agent in a state outside of where a company exist is to recieve legal notices on behalf of the company. Been there...had to do that. ;) Sure sounds like they weren't properly notified. If so, an appeal will be coming real soon.

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  Adjam5 said:
We own and use Summits here for these reasons.

They are made here, by Americans just like us; and I found them to be the most secure of the climbers I looked at before purchasing.

Just because something was made in America by Americans like us, doesn't make it fail-proof. Make no mistake about it. I had a Summit climber top section fold on me on the way down a tree one night, I managed to catch my self with the foot platform a few feet down the tree. I was still about 12-14' off the ground. Scared me straight, I now use a safety harness not only when I'm hunting, but up and down the tree as well.

Summit stood behind their product and sent me a new stand, but things could have ended a lot worse for me that night.

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I take into DEEP consideration where something is made before I make the purchase. Quality, ease of use, price and where it is made seem to dictate. I feel much more secure by something made domestically, rather than overseas, in a place where the people on the assembly line have absolutely no clue as to what a treestand is supposed to do.

No matter what anyone says, Made in China will always mean junk to me. I am not saying Summit is the end all be all to not having a treestand accident, that rests on the user. But in all of mine and my sons climbs, we have never had an accident or our stands fail to perform as they should, as long as the user follows all the company guide lines for PROPER treestand safety. The user should return home in once piece.

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  Ohiobucks said:
Summit stood behind their product and sent me a new stand, but things could have ended a lot worse for me that night.

I guess I need to send Summit a note about my 3 year old trophy chair. I have a few old hang on stands with large platforms that I use but I removed the seats off those stands and just carried my Summit trophy chair in when I hunted them. This past bow season I sat down on it, adjusted my seating position about 30 minutes later and the straps holding the seat on the frame broke. :eek: If not for my hunter safety system I would have flipped out of the front of my stand. Needless to say, that sure made me leary about buying anymore Summit products.

BTW, the ratchet straps that came with my 18' Summit ladder appear to be made out of the same material. They only lasted 2 years before the broke apparently from dry rotting. They stayed out in the weather though...my trophy chair didn't. Never had that problem with other ratchet straps over such a short time frame.

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