Can I sue him for being a retard and making me depressed about the state of the world?

Patterson does not know if the device has damaged his hearing, said his attorney, Steve W. Berman, of Seattle. But that's beside the point of the lawsuit, which takes issue with the potential the iPod has to cause irreparable hearing loss, Berman said.

I like the German system; if you lose a lawsuit, you pay ALL the court costs. Tends to cut down on idiots like this.

Was his fingers broken and he was unable to turn the volume control down as a result?

Personal responsibility surrenders.

WHAT???

WARNING: THIS LAWSUIT MAY MAKE YOU LOOK LIKE A DUMBASS

Yeah, but Pocket Ninja, ear buds have existed long before the iPod...they came with my original Gameboy, and not even with the little foam pad things that Apple gives you! Even when I was a wee tot playing my Gameboy I realized it hurt my ears to crank up the volume super loud to play Metroid 2.

It's common sense. Maybe he should sue himself for not having it.

... are not sufficiently adorned with adequate warnings regarding the likelihood of hearing loss," according to the complaint

So, just like detergent companies have to advise the public "not to ingest" their product, Apple has to remind people about hearing loss.

Aren't some things just so obvious? Can someone explain who in the hell actually sits at home and one day says " I think I'll have a cup of TIDE with my Clorox today!"? Hearing loss is being reported on constantly these days. Loud noise=Hearing loss. How stupid do you have to be not to understand that?

I guess if this guy wins I'll be able to sue Pioneer and Yamaha for my tinnitus.

Yeah they do that and some group for the hearing impaired is going to sue their asses for not providing a unit that can be turned up loud enough for disabled persons to hear.

Shiat like this makes my blood boil.

Pocket Ninja:But the fact remains that a)Apple has already been forced to fix this "problem" once...

Apple were forced to fix that to comply with French government regulations, not because of a previous court order or whatnot.

Mugato: Frivolous lawsuits probably piss me off more than just about anything else. And you farking lawyers who take the cases are to blame. Fark you, lawyers. I'm going to go bomb a law school.

I used to work for a law firm, in direct contact with clients. I can tell you, it isn't the firm's fault that people view lawsuits as a "life lottery" where you can get millions from being hurt or doing something stupider than everyone else around you can conceive of.

Here's an example: one lady complained about us to the state bar because she believed that we were intentionally giving her subpar representation. Her reasoning on this was that she had recorded her phone calls which she made every week to our offices biatching about how little money she was getting from a settlement, and eventually one of the secretaries lost her temper on the lady because she had been calling for months telling us how worthless we were for not getting her several hundred thousand dollars when she had no significant lasting injuries.

Take that one step further: you can sue for "discrimination" if you believe and can prove that a firm could have won your case, but turned it down over your race, religion, or so on. Essentially, this means that if a good (and reputable) firm turns you down you can then find a less-reputable lawyer to sue the first firm for the money you "would have been given" had they taken your case and represented it "fairly." Most of these cases go absolutely nowhere, because most people who would do this are only in it for the money and have no basis for the lawsuit, but the best defense against these people is to take a case and pursue it exactly up to the point where you can say "you're full of crap, this is why, we have it in writing, we're closing your case."

And if the case has arguable points enough that it somehow makes it to trial, and you win... Personally, I think that's mostly a matter of seriously-incompetent defense. But to defend yourself from liability you have to make a good-faith effort to follow up on even the dumbest of cases until you can find a good arguable reason to close them. Otherwise those same money-seeking people may attempt to take their "jackpot" out of you, and put your firm in a really annoying legal position.

/This was the way it was explained to me when I asked about the really stupid cases we sent questionnaires to and ordered medical records on
//Really glad I'm out of law
///Culinary has less pressure, somehow

Mcdonalds lawsuit defenders in 3...2...1...

Can I sue Chevrolet for making the Corvette go so damn fast and causing me to wreck?

No.

Note to self : by stock in hearing aids.

New from Apple in 2025: the iHear!

I'm suing Mars Company for those damn Snickers bars.

THEY SHOULD HAVE KNOWN IT WOULD MAKE ME FAT IF I EAT THEM FOR BREAKFAST!

Keyboards all come with a warning certificate nowadays after carpal tunnel became a fad. I bet they'll add one for personal stereos.

DIGITAL Gimpus

Don't they have Reeses Pieces cereal? Easier case to win.

AntiNorm: Mcdonalds lawsuit defenders in 3...2...1...

I'll (sort of) defend the McDonald's lawsuit.. but I won't defend THIS one.

shiat like this is what makes people hate lawyers. I know, I'm a lawyer.

People who bring lawusits like this need to be first against the wall when the revolution comes.

/not a revolutionary.
//not a tort lawyer

Pocket Ninja: I know nobody RTFA, so I just thought I'd throw that in.


But also from TFA:
Although the iPod is more popular than other types of portable music players, its ability to cause noise-induced hearing isn't any higher, experts said.

"We have numerous products in the marketplace that have the potential to damage hearing," said Deanna Meinke, an audiology professor at the University of Northern Colorado. "The risk is there but the risk lies with the user and where they set the volume."

That ex postal lady in CA killed the wrong people.

GurneyHalleck

Can Creative play protected WMA?

Oh for God Sakes...

People, this is some farked up idiot who most likely has some mental issues and is trying to make a quick buck. Unless the media circus fawns over it, he'll be laughed out of court immediately.

News Flash: sometimes, people can be greedy and stupid. Obviously, highly invasive and complicated action must be taken.

We are not awash in a flurry of unfair judgments against honest people (or corporations.) Does it happen? Yep. But don't get your panties in a bunch. Welcome to the real world.

/and people defend the McDonald's lawsuit because they have a point that is often willfully overlooked

GurneyHalleck: The only thing Apple has to fix about the iPod is the fact it uses the scumbag recording industry executive protection software known as iTunes. Which is why I bought a Creative.

?

Can you burn Audio CDs of the music you buy through Creative?

The MP3s I ripped from my own CDs work fine on the iPod and anything else that takes MP3.

If anybody knows this asshat, please tell him that Apple did not make him turn the volume up to the point that he was able to drown out all other noise.

/Stupid
//No I didn't RTFA, didn't RTFT either
///People like this need to be shot, or atleast forced not to reproduce

'Alas poor PersonalResponsibility, I knew him well'

PocketNinja
But the fact remains that a)Apple has already been forced to fix this "problem" once and

The idea of legal precedent in a French court having that kind of influence on a US case absolutely sickens me. For this country's sake, I truly hope you are wrong. Otherwise, we might as well just go ahead and join the EU and start rolling over everytime someone pokes us with a stick.

Pocket Ninja: The last pararaph of the article explains why he has a case, and why he's probably going to win (or, at least, force Apple to settle):

There was no warning on the cheese grater not to masturbate with it; I demand a BILLION dollars from whoever made that vile device!

/And a medic

The suit, which Patterson wants certified as a class-action, seeks compensation for unspecified damages and upgrades that will make iPods safer.

So this means that everyone who is part of the class action will receive a warning sticker from Apple to place on their iPods. Counsel will receive $2 million in legal fees.

The iPod isn't designed to play at some decibel level or another. It's designed to have a specified maximum output gain.

The volume will depend on the device being driven. There is a perfectly legitimate use to having the gain go that high: unpowered desktop speakers. No one is forcing a user to play it that loudly on earbuds. I generally run at maybe 60% on mine.

Anyone using earbuds should know that if you turn up the volume until it's painful, that's bad.

I see a judge throwing this out.

Did Sony ever get sued over Walkmans (Walkmen?)? The amount of noise these things can make hasn't increased in the last 25 years has it?

rose8199: He'll probably win because Apple "didn't properly warn" him.

This is why our society is so dumb...

In the early 90s I worked a retail job in high school.
I will always remember the warning on the "Batman"
halloween costume. "Costume does not enable wearer to
fly".... Because of course our litigious society
and the fact that Batman doesnt fly....

The iPod players are "inherently defective in design and are not sufficiently adorned with adequate warnings regarding the likelihood of hearing loss," according to the complaint

My niece got an iPod Nano this Christmas. In the package there was a sheet of paper that WARNED users to not listen to their audio at high levels because it WILL lead to hearing loss.

Don't know about what was in his packaging, but there's something called COMMON SENSE. Which this retard is seriously lacking.

Maybe I should sue those homeys who have a concert PA system shoved in their trunk of their pimp-mobiles.

/most annoying asshats of all time

Frivolous lawsuits probably piss me off more than just about anything else. And you farking lawyers who take the cases are to blame.

And while making enraging anecdotes, Mugato, they are hardly the problem popular imagination makes them out to be.

The overwhelming majority of lawsuits are filed by businesses, against consumers or other businesses. These suits are about twice as likely to be found frivolous by a judge. And yet we never hear this important context reported in the business-friendly media. Why is that?

I guess this is as good a place to ask as any. Can anyone tell me if playing my ipod at medium value (about 4/10) using in-ear buds will damage my hearing? I never crank the volume up since I'm terrified of going deaf, but I use the kind of ear buds that actually go into your ear canal (Shure E2C's) and I'm wondering if hours of use a day at even medium volume can do damage. Have any of you 80's kids experienced hearing loss from using your walkmans on a frequent basis?